émeraude
by amarillide
Summary: Evelyn Potter was meant to grow up at #4 Privet Drive, Surrey. With a single choice, the path of her life was completely altered. Instead she is Lynn, meister of the DWMA. What will happen when the savior of the Wizarding World shows up to the Triwizard Tournament after having been missing for 13 years? Fem!Harry. Kid/Lynn, pairings subject to change. Major OC. OOC and AU.
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome to the rewrite of The Mystery of Lynn Potter! I've been working on this for a while and I hope that you enjoy reading it as much as I've enjoyed writing it :)**

* * *

 **AGES:**

 **Lynn Potter-Barrett: 14  
** **Ryan Diaz: 16  
** **Black Star: 17  
** **Tsubaki: 19  
** **Soul: 18  
** **Maka: 17  
** **Death the Kid: 17  
** **Patty: 16  
** **Liz: 18**

* * *

"Another soul down!" A girl grinned as the iron club in her hand lit up, transforming into a much taller boy standing next to her. She cracked her knuckles and back loudly causing her partner to wince.

The boy huffed loudly. "Only forty more to go."

"C'mon, don't be such a downer Ryan." She teased. "We're over halfway there!"

"Whatever." Ryan swallowed the soul quickly. "It's your turn to report to Lord Death. I've done it the last four times."

The girl shook her head but walked up to the nearest window anyways. She took a deep breath and gently blew on the surface causing it to fog up. With a clean finger she traced along the window, chanting the numbers to herself as she did it. "42-42-564, whenever you want to knock on Death's Door."

They both stepped back as the window started to ripple unnaturally. It took a few moments before it stabilized, revealing the cartoonish man that they all knew as Lord Death. The pair immediately bowed to him. "This is club meister Lynn Potter-Barrett and weapon Ryan Diaz, we just collected our sixtieth soul."

"Ah, good job!" The shinigami exclaimed, bouncing about. "You're progressing along nicely!"

"It is my honor to serve you, Lord Death." Lynn bowed her head again when she blushed. "Thank you."

"Always so formal~" Death trilled. "Bye-bye then!"

The glass rippled again leaving the pair alone in the dark street. Ryan yawned widely and stretched his arms behind his head. "Let's head home. We still have homework to do."

Lynn groaned loudly but began to walk with him nonetheless. Their trek to their apartment was quiet, only the sound of their footsteps echoing throughout the streets of Death City. She threw her head back and exhaled loudly as she stared up at the stars. Sixty kishin souls. That was sixty monsters that would never hurt anyone again. Sixty humans that had allowed their own greed and bloodlust to warp them. Sixty once-human lives that she had ended with a swing of a club.

A hoot sounded loudly from the sky, catching her attention. There was an owl circling around their apartment looking as if it was trying to land. Lynn grabbed her partner by the wrist and motioned up at the bird. "Do you think it's a witch?"

"No witch would be stupid enough to show up in Death City." Ryan shook his head. "It's just a bird."

But something about that owl was so unnerving to her. The rest of the time it took them to head to their small apartment building she was watching it as it continued to circle the building. It was almost as if it was searching for prey and she has this sinking feeling that she was it.

They walked quickly up the stairs, huffing slightly by the time that they reached their sixth floor apartment. Ryan unlocked the door quickly and all but collapsed on the dingy couch that they owned, groaning loudly into a pillow. She laughed quietly at him before heading to the bathroom, yelling that she was going to take a shower.

The water was steaming hot when she finally jumped in, soothing her aching muscles. She watched dimly as the kishin's blood was washed off of her body, the water tinged red. Lynn set to scrubbing it off of her face, wincing when the soap on her hands was pink. An iron club really was the perfect weapon for her, but it was so messy. Bludgeoning a kishin to death usually ended with her covered in blood and that was just not something that she enjoyed.

She finished washing herself and stepped out into the foggy bathroom, wrapping her body and hair in fluffy towels. She grabbed her bloody clothes and walked across the apartment to throw it in the washing machine, giggling when Ryan groaned about her being naked again.

"We've lived together for the past two years, get used to it." She teased. "It's not like I have anything to look at anyways."

Ryan grabbed a pillow and threw it at her. "Your boyfriend is going to be pissed if I see anything."

"Kid is _not_ my boyfriend!" She shrieked, throwing the pillow back. "We're just friends, why does everyone think that he's my boyfriend?"

"Because most friends don't get caught making out in the supply closet." Ryan snorted loudly. "That's Soul and Maka's spot, you should have known better."

"It was only one time!" She insisted as she walked into her room. "And it was a dare from Black Star, that's it."

He laughed loudly in response. "So last week in your bedroom was a dare too?"

"STOP LOOKING IN MY ROOM YOU CREEP!"

"DON'T MAKE OUT WITH YOUR BOYFRIEND WITH THE WINDOW WIDE OPEN!"

"YOU ARE THE WORST PARTNER EVER!"

"NO, THAT'S YOU! ALWAYS LEAVING YOUR DIRTY SOCKS AND — OW!"

Lynn came running out of her room to see her partner rubbing his face. The owl that had been circling their building had come in through the window she had opened and looked like it had flown straight into her partner's face. Before she could stop herself she began giggling at the absurdity of the situation.

Between giggles she managed to squeeze out a few words. "Ryan, did you just get hit by an owl?"

"That damn bird doesn't have any brakes." He scowled. "Why did you open the window?"

"Because there's a nice breeze for once." Lynn rolled her eyes. She walked over to the owl and noticed it had something tied around it's leg. "Oh, what do you have here?" She cooed at the owl.

It stuck it's leg out automatically and allowed her to untie the thick letter that was attached. Lynn ran into the kitchen and grabbed a few slivers of chicken from the rotisserie they had picked up the day before. "There you go sweetheart, you must be hungry. Now what are you doing all the way in Nevada?"

She flipped the letter over and nearly dropped it when she read who it was addressed to. "You gotta see this Ryan…" He walked over to stand next to her, looking down at the letter with wide eyes.

 ** _MISS E. POTTER  
_** ** _THE SECOND BEDROOM  
_** ** _35 KICKED BUCKET LANE APT 622  
_** ** _DEATH CITY, NEVADA_**

"Is this some kind of joke?" Ryan asked. "How did they know what room you sleep in?"

Lynn swallowed hard. "Should I open it?"

At Ryan's nod she flipped it back over and broke the wax seal. The letter was written on thick parchment with shimmering green ink The letter almost fell from her grasp as she read what was written.

* * *

 ** _HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY_**

 ** _Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore  
_** ** _(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,  
_** ** _Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)_**

 ** _Dear Miss Potter,_**

 ** _We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment._**

 ** _Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July._**

 ** _Yours sincerely,_**

 ** _Minerva McGonagall  
_** ** _Deputy Headmistress_**

* * *

She scoffed and tossed the letter onto the kitchen table when she was done reading it. "This is the stupidest prank ever. Black Star really is losing his touch."

Ryan settled down next to her with the letter in his hand. "I dunno, this seems a little too subtle for 'Star. But you're not a witch."

"Of course I'm not a witch." Lynn laughed. "I'm a little too sane to be one. And even if I was, Sid would have noticed when I was a kid."

"Maybe we should take this to Lord Death." Ryan suggested, earning another laugh from his partner. "I'm serious, he would know if this is a trap or not."

When she hesitated he nudged her softly with his shoulder. "C'mon, it'll make you feel better."

"Fine." She groaned, getting up and walking to the mirror hanging on the otherwise blank wall. She blew on the mirror to fog it up as she had just two hours before. "42-42-564, whenever you want to knock on Death's Door."

Their mirror rippled unnaturally before revealing Lord Death. She bowed quickly before standing up. "I apologize for calling so late Lord Death, but I received a troubling letter and I was hoping you would know what it meant."

"Of course~" The shinigami chirped. "What is is Lynn?"

"As of thirty minutes ago, an owl flew into my apartment and delivered a letter announcing my acceptance to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It seemed too elaborate to be a prank, I thought it might be a trap set by the witches." She said firmly.

Lord Death sighed and seemed to deflate slightly. "I hoped this day would never come."

"Are you saying that this is real?" Lynn's voice broke. "I'm not a witch, I swear!"

"What do you know about the separation of the American and European witches?" He asked, leaning forward so that his mask was closer to the screen.

"That when the witch burnings began the European witches went into hiding while the American witches bonded with animals and the madness in order to fight back." She replied. "But I thought the European witches died out because of their seclusion?"

Lord Death simply shook his head. "They stayed deep in hiding and suppressed the madness in order to stay alive. Many of them blend in with our society today. Lynn, what do you know about your birth parents?"

"They were civilians that died at the hands of a kishin and I was brought to Death City for protection." Lynn explained, an incredulous look on her face.

"Yes, that is the story we told you." Lord Death nodded. "Lynn, your parents were witches by the names of Lily and James Potter. They were murdered and when you were a year old your last living relative, an aunt I believe, contacted the DWMA to take you in. We agreed to raise you on the terms that we keep you hidden from the magical community and in return we would receive a child that most likely had the ability to become a meister."

"You lied to me?" She cried out. "Why?"

"The place you were born sought to raise you to suit their own agendas. Your aunt felt that you would be safer hidden in Death City. Those owls have been trying to get in here for years."

"Will the witches come for me now?" Lynn asked quietly, her voice uncharacteristically bitter.

"It would be a death sentence for a witch to enter Death City." Lord Death was serious for once. "We will go to them. The Headmaster of this school is hosting a tournament and if our intel is correct, they are still in need of one more school to compete."

Ryan walked over to where they were talking and placed his hand on Lynn's shoulder protectively. "We can't just send Lynn over there. What if they don't let her come back?"

The shinigami stared back but they could almost feel his smile. "I will send members of the Spartoi as competitors, they will be enough to protect Lynn from any possible kidnappings."

The pair began to protest but were cut off when Lord Death raised one of his white palms to quiet them. "You will meet in the Death Room for your assignment at 0800 tomorrow. Good bye~"

He disappeared as the mirror returned back to normal, leaving the partners standing in their living room in silence. Ryan went to say something to the girl but she just shook her head and walked into her room with the letter clutched tightly in her hand. She locked the door firmly behind her and threw herself on the bed.

Lynn shoved her face into her pillow as tears began to fall from her eyes. Everything about her life had been a lie. All her life she had imagined her parents as the strong people, fight against the kishin that they couldn't hope to win against. Instead of the valiant heroes, they were witches!

She was a witch.

Did that make her evil? All she had ever done was try her best to fight for the good of the world, she had soaked herself in the blood of kishin to stop them from ever harming people again. Everything she had done was done to protect people and now she was inherently evil.

She stood up and walked over to the mirror that hung on her closet door. Frowning, she looked over her whole body. Nothing seemed to be different. Same green eyes, same black hair, even the weird scar on her forehead was the same.

There wasn't anything physically different yet she felt like so much had changed.

Lynn rubbed her eyes and groaned when she realized that she had forgotten to take her contacts out. She quietly opened her door and snuck into the bathroom to avoid speaking to her partner. Once she was in there she began the tedious process of removing her contact lenses. She blinked roughly once they were out, fumbling around the sink for the glasses case that she kept there. After struggling for a few moments, she got the case open and slid the round glasses on her face.

She looked in the mirror more intently before sighing loudly. Nothing she did tonight would make a difference. As she snuck back into her room and quickly slid under her covers, her thoughts were still racing. Lynn forced herself to close her eyes and drift off to sleep, if only to quiet the sound of her own mind.

\\\\\\\

The next morning found her alarm going off at five a.m., pulling a loud groan from her. She sat up in bed, yawning widely as she looked out her window into the still dark city. Lynn huffed to herself as she padded to the bathroom, brushing her hair and teeth and putting her contacts back in.

Her nose crinkled as she stood and walked over to her closet. The young girl dressed rather quickly, throwing on a baggy gray tank top over a pair of blue jean shorts. She slid on her sneakers and socks before pulling out her large suitcase from the back of the closet. She stepped back and looked at all her clothes, trying to figure out what to pack. Since most of her clothes were suited for the hot environment of Death City, she didn't have much.

Lynn immediately reached in and started packing away the outfits she had purchased for the last time she and Ryan had to chase a kishin over in Ireland. That must have similar weather to Scotland? She could faintly hear the sounds of her partner moving around in his room as his alarm finally went off.

"Hey, Ryan? Scotland is all rainy like Ireland, right?" She shouted at him through the wall.

"I don't know, I've never been there." He shouted back. "And you don't have to pack so damn early either!"

"You know I like being prepared!" Lynn rolled her eyes and continued to pull everything from her closet. She shoved all the heavy coats, sweaters, and warm pants she could into the suitcase. When she looked over at the clock her eyes widened to see it was 7:45, giving them only fifteen minutes to be in the Death Room ready to hear their assignments before class.

She threw her backpack on and ran out of her room, pounding on Ryan's door. "DUDE WE HAVE FIFTEEN MINUTES, WE GOTTA GO!"

A loud thud sounded from the room followed by the sound of Ryan cursing to himself. A couple of minutes later he bust out of the door looking disheveled. The pair quickly rushed out of their apartment, barely remembering to lock the door behind them. They stormed down the stairs and unlocked their bike chains as fast as they could and began peddling through the streets of Death City.

By the time they got to the DWMA they were dripping in sweat and the long climb up the stairs did nothing to help that. By the time they came huffing into the Death Room they had only a minute to spare. Lynn came crashing into Black Star's back, knocking both of them over.

She looked up at Lord Death with a red face and rubbed the back of her head. "At least we're on time?"

The shinigami laughed loudly at her antics while she and the other meister sorted themselves out. "Settle down, there is much to be discussed~"

Everyone in the large group brought themselves to attention, staring up at Lord Death expectantly. "As of last night, the European witches have broken their seclusion to make contact with one of our meisters, Lynn Potter-Barrett. I made contact with the Headmaster of this witch school this morning. On the morning of October 29 you will fly to Edinburgh, Scotland. From there you will meet with a Hogwarts representative and they will transport you to the school."

Lord Death paced in front of them, uncharacteristically serious. "They have agreed to allow weapon-meister pairs to compete in this tournament, but any meister competing must be 17 years old. That means only Black Star, Maka, and Kiddo will be able to compete. The protection of Lynn Potter-Barrett is the most important task. You will gather information on the witches and decide if they are worth forming an alliance with as well."

"We will make you proud, Father." Kid bowed respectfully. The shinigami dismissed them immediately, leaving all of them to rush to their classes before they were too late.

Class that morning passed rather slowly, Lynn finding herself unable to focus completely. She and her partner had only been in the E.A.T. class for the past year and they still had a lot more to learn but she could not force herself to pay attention to the lessons at hand. By the time the bell for lunch rang, she was rushing out of the classroom to go find her friends.

The majority of Spartoi was sitting at a large table at the back of the cafeteria. She made a beeline for the table, settling down next to Kid with a slight blush on her face. Ryan came walking over a minute later with two lunch trays in his hand. He dropped one of them in front of Lynn. "You've got to remember to eat." He scolded her.

"I've been a little distracted, sorry." Lynn shrugged as she took a bite out of the apple on her tray. "We've got two days to get ready to go to Scotland for Death knows how long, and there's a bunch of creepy witches who think I'm one of them."

"You don't have a witch's soul," Maka frowned as she looked over Lynn. "We would have noticed a long time ago."

Lynn snorted. "That's because I'm not a witch. Just because my birth parents were apparently crazy European witches doesn't mean that I am." She sighed and stretched her arms out behind her. "So why isn't the rest of Spartoi coming? There won't be a lot of us there."

"Kim and Jacqueline are on a long term mission," Kid replied with a small frown on his face. "Ox and Harvar declined the mission, and Kilik and the twins are still with Azusa. This was everyone we could afford to spare."

"Kid's right." Liz nodded. "We'll have to get you and Ryan a few sets of the uniform. And we'll have to do something about those eyebrows…"

"NO!" Lynn shouted, glancing over at Kid with panic on her face. "Kid just did them and it took a month, I'm not letting anyone mess with the symmetry."

Kid smiled slightly down at her, pulling a darker blush to her face. She stood from the table abruptly. "I-I have to go ask my dad something. I'll see you guys later."

She dumped her tray and rushed out of the cafeteria, resisting the urge to smile when she heard Kid make a similar excuse. Looking around the hallway and seeing no one around, she slipped into the janitor's closet hoping that he would figure out the right one.

A smile stretched across her face when the door opened a minute later revealing Kid. She grabbed both of his hands and pulled him closer, standing on her toes to wrap her arms around her neck. Kid leaned down and pressed a short kiss to her lips. "I missed you." She admitted, a blush on her face.

"It's only been a week." Kid smiled widely, revealing his perfect teeth. She resisted the urge to curse, even the way he smiled was perfectly symmetrical. "But I missed you too."

"Would it have been better if you were gone for eight days?" Lynn teased, kissing him on both cheeks quickly.

"Of course, as you know, eight is the perfect number. It is perfectly symm- mph!" She cut off his speech with another kiss, this one more passionate than the last. The pair lost themselves in the kiss, only the push of their lips against each other taking over their senses.

Lynn pulled away with a flushed face. She just looked up at his symmetrical face, butterflies filling her stomach. "What are we?" She blurted out, covering her mouth the next second.

"I mean, are you my boyfriend or is this just a fling because I really don't want to get hurt over this." Lynn looked down at her toes. "I really like you Kid. I know that I'm young but I also know how I feel."

He leaned back against the wall frowning. "I had believed you were already my girlfriend. Was I wrong?"

"No!" She resisted the urge to smile like a fool. "I just… We never talked about it and people keep calling you my boyfriend and I didn't want to overstep or anything.."

His hands slid down her arms to grasp both of her hands firmly in his. "I care about you. That's all that matters."

Before she could lean up and kiss him again, the bell started ringing loudly to announce that lunch was over. Lynn groaned and reached up to kiss both his cheeks quickly before she slipped out of the closet and into the bustling hallway. She all but ran to her classroom, sliding into her seat next to Ryan just as the bell rang.

"Your hair is messed up." Ryan leaned in and whispered, causing her to frantically smooth down her hair. "You're welcome."

She reached over and pinched his thigh. "You're the best weapon ever Ry-Ry."

The boy simply huffed and turned back to where Sid was teaching, but there was still a hint of a grin on his face. She shook her head and started writing down the notes, her life perfectly at ease for once.

/

The next two days flew by in the blink of an eye and before they knew it they were on a plane scheduled to land in Scotland in only ten minutes. Lynn squirmed nervously in her seat pulling a chuckle from her parter. She glared up at him playfully and snuggled further into her scarf. The entire Spartoi crowd was dressed in their uniforms, which was perfectly fine for the hot Nevada weather but something told her that she would be freezing her ass off in Scotland. Their layover in New York had been rather chilly so despite her boyfriend's complaints about symmetry she had dug into her carry on and pulled out the thick scarf Ryan's mother had given her last Christmas. It was everything that her partner hated and that was what she loved about it so much. It was fluffy and pink and she could probably wrap the whole thing around her body.

The plan finally began its descent a moment later, making her stiffen. She reached over and gripped Ryan's wrist tightly while she tried to breathe deeply. It was far from her first time flying but something about the landing had always terrified her. She was a ground fighter, being in the air just felt wrong to her.

He smiled at her softly. "Hey, it's alright. Just look at me and take deep breaths. It'll be okay."

Lynn looked up at her partner and tried to do just that. She mimicked his breathing, taking slow and calming breaths. There was a thud as the plane landed and then it was all over. She leaned her head back against the seat and sighed. "Thank you, really."

"No prob, pipsqueak." He ruffled her hair. "C'mon, we gotta get out of here. Don't want the big bad witches to get impatient."

A book came crashing down on the top of his head, wielded by a fuming Maka. "This is serious DWMA business, Diaz."

He rubbed his head with a wince. "Got it, sorry."

Lynn shoved at his shoulder to get him out of his seat, pouting when he had to grab her bag for her. They caught up to the rest of the group, easily finding them after following the sound of Black Star's voice. She subtly placed herself next to Kid, intertwining their fingers as they walked. The students headed somewhat quietly to customs as to not draw attention to themselves, moving through easily the moment they showed their DWMA I.D.s.

They all grabbed their bags quickly and met right outside in the arrival hall. Lynn looked around the airport for any sign of a witch. "So who did they say was going to meet us?"

"Some stupid witch named McGonagall!" Black Star laughed obnoxiously. "What kind of name is that?"

"Mine." A crisp Scottish voice sounded from behind them. They all whipped around to see an older woman with a severe bun in her graying hair holding a sign in her hands. "I trust that you are the students from the… Death Weapon Meister Academy?"

Maka smiled her 'media sweetheart' smile and stepped forward, sticking her hand out for a handshake. "Maka Albarn, three star meister. It's a pleasure to meet you Ms. McGonagall."

"Quite. Please follow me." The woman turned and set off at a brisk pace towards the exit. She let them to an alleyway, looking around to see if they were undetected. From her small bag she pulled out a blackened tea kettle and stared expectantly at them.

"Please place your hands on the portkey and do not let go." She held out the tea kettle, a single eyebrow raising when no one moved.

Hesitantly Tsubaki placed her hand on the tea kettle, glancing at the others. They all hesitantly followed suit. Nothing happened for a moment before they felt a jerk at their bellybuttons and the world began to spin. Lynn could vaguely hear Black Star screaming at the top of his lungs and if she hadn't been so sick from spinning she would have laughed.

They all hit the ground with a loud thud, Lynn's knee's screaming from the effort of not crumpling to the ground. Whispers surrounded them almost immediately, causing all of them to go into high alert. They relaxed when they looked around to see a bunch of students in four large sections, obviously separated by color.

Lynn looked up to see an old man with a rather long white beard standing in front of them, his blue eyes twinkling as he smiled. Kid parted from the group to walk over and shake his hand. "Headmaster Dumbledore, it is an honor to be allowed to represent my father at this tournament."

"Yes, my boy." Dumbledore smiled wider. "So the saying goes; when Death calls, one must answer.

Dumbledore motioned for them to head into a hall where a large group of girls and boys in thick red coats were already sitting at a large green table. She made a beeline for the red table on the opposite end, trying to avoid the witches as well as she could. The others followed her, grouping together in weapon-meister pairs in case a situation arose.

It was only a few minutes later that the students from outside began pouring in, settling themselves at the tables matching the colors they were wearing. Lynn ducked her head down from where she was between Ryan and Black Star. Something about being there was making her oddly nervous and she had a feeling that it was more than just being around a bunch of witches.

As she was lost in her thoughts a girl with curly hair came barreling through, bumping into Lynn and Ryan's backs as she walked. The girl went sprawling across the floor while the other students snickered at her. She could hear the girl sniffle slightly and before she could think about it she was leaping up to help her.

"Hey, you okay?" Lynn asked, grabbing the girl's book and handing it back to her. "That looked like a pretty nasty fall."

"I'm alright, I should have been paying attention." The witch shoved her wild curls from her face. She went to keep walking when Lynn impulsively grabbed her by the arm. The way that the other students had laughed at the girl told Lynn that she would probably end up eating alone and it made her heart twinge a little.

"Why don't you sit with us?" She suggested, forcing Ryan to scoot down so that she was between him and the witch. "We don't know too much about this school, maybe you could answer some questions?"

The witch sat down hesitantly, almost as if she was waiting for all of them to laugh at her. "Umm, okay. I'm Hermione Granger, it's nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too, Hermione," Lynn smiled widely. "I'm Lynn and this is my partner Ryan. So you're part of the red group?"

Hermione blinked and cleared her throat slightly. "Gryffindor, yes. We call them houses here. The yellow is Hufflepuff, the blue is Ravenclaw, and the green is Slytherin."

"That's weird." Ryan deadpanned. "Why don't you just do it by age?"

"B-Because it's been that way since Hogwarts was founded!" Hermione sputtered, her face tinged pink with anger. "The founders believed that—!"

Ryan cut her off with a snort. "Witches are just weird, you don't have to defend it."

"You say that like you're not a wizard." Hermione crossed her arms and huffed.

Lynn couldn't hold back her giggles at that. "Hermione, we aren't witches."

"What?" Hermione's jaw dropped. "What school do you come from..?"

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, ghosts and — most particularly — guests," said Dumbledore, interrupting their conversation. "I have great pleasure in welcoming you all to Hogwarts. I hope and trust that your stay here will be both comfortable and enjoyable."

She looked up at him, something about his bright blue eyes unnerving her. The man seemed to stare right at her with a startling amount of intensity. Lynn broke eye contact quickly, looking down to stare at the table.

"The tournament will be officially opened at the end of the feast," said Dumbledore. "I now invite you all to eat, drink, and make yourselves at home!"

With a wave of his hand the golden platters in front of them were suddenly full of food. She grinned despite herself and began filling her plate. Hermione was still sitting next to her looking rather tense, but Lynn ignored her in favor of devouring the feast in front of her. All they had gotten to eat the past day was airplane food and she was starving!

Chatter filled the air as students began to speak, obviously excited about the tournament. Lynn couldn't stop herself from peeking down to where Kid and Maka were conversing quietly. She shrugged and looked back to her plate assuming that they were probably making plans for the tournament.

Once the golden plates had been wiped clean, Dumbledore stood up again. A pleasant sort of tension seemed to fill the Hall now. "The moment has come," said Dumbledore, smiling around at the sea of upturned faces. "The Triwizard Tournament is about to start. I would like to say a few words of explanation before we bring in the casket, just to clarify the procedure that we will be following this year. But first, let me introduce, for those who do not know them, Mr. Bartemius Crouch, Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation" — there was a smattering of polite applause — "and Mr. Ludo Bagman, Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports."

There was a much louder round of applause for Bagman than for Crouch, perhaps because of his fame as a Beater, or simply because he looked so much more likable. He acknowledged it with a jovial wave of his hand. Bartemius Crouch did not smile or wave when his name was announced.

"Mr. Bagman and Mr. Crouch have worked tirelessly over the last few months on the arrangements for the Triwizard Tournament," Dumbledore continued, "and they will be joining myself, Professor Karkaroff, and the representative from the DWMA on the panel that will judge the champions' efforts."

At the mention of the word "champions," the attentiveness of the listening students seemed to sharpen. Perhaps Dumbledore had noticed their sudden stillness, for he smiled as he said, "The casket, then, if you please, Mr. Filch."

Filch, who had been lurking unnoticed in a far corner of the Hall, now approached Dumbledore carrying a great wooden chest encrusted with jewels. It looked extremely old. A murmur of excited interest rose from the watching students "The instructions for the tasks the champions will face this year have already been examined by Mr. Crouch and Mr. Bagman," said Dumbledore as Filch placed the chest carefully on the table before him, "and they have made the necessary arrangements for each challenge. There will be three tasks, spaced throughout the school year, and they will test the champions in many different ways...their magical prowess — their daring — their powers of deduction — and, of course, their ability to cope with danger."

At this last word, the Hall was filled with a silence so absolute that nobody seemed to be breathing. "As you know, three champions compete in the tournament," Dumbledore went on calmly, "one from each of the participating schools. They will be marked on how well they perform each of the Tournament tasks and the champion with the highest total after task three will win the Triwizard Cup. The champions will be chosen by an impartial selector: the Goblet of Fire."

Dumbledore now took out his wand and tapped three times upon the top of the casket. The lid creaked slowly open. Dumbledore reached inside it and pulled out a large, roughly hewn wooden cup. It would have been entirely unremarkable had it not been full to the brim with dancing blue-white flames. Dumbledore closed the casket and placed the goblet carefully on top of it, where it would be clearly visible to everyone in the Hall.

"Anybody wishing to submit themselves as champion must write their name and school clearly upon a slip of parchment and drop it into the goblet," said Dumbledore. "Aspiring champions have twenty-four hours in which to put their names forward. Tomorrow night, Halloween, the goblet will return the names of the three it has judged most worthy to represent their schools. The goblet will be placed in the entrance hall tonight, where it will be freely accessible to all those wishing to compete."

"To ensure that no underage student yields to temptation," said Dumbledore, "I will be drawing an Age Line around the Goblet of Fire once it has been placed in the entrance hall. Nobody under the age of seventeen will be able to cross this line. Finally, I wish to impress upon any of you wishing to compete that this tournament is not to be entered into lightly. Once a champion has been selected by the Goblet of Fire, he or she is obliged to see the tournament through to the end. The placing of your name in the goblet constitutes a binding, magical contract. There can be no change of heart once you have become a champion. Please be very sure, therefore, that you are wholeheartedly prepared to play before you drop your name into the goblet. Now, I think it is time for bed. Good night to you all."

Lynn yawned widely and stretched, turning back to Hermione. "I'll catch you tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay then.." Hermione was quickly carried away by the crowd. The DWMA students stayed in their seats until the same woman who had picked them up from the airport approached them with a stern look on her face. Lynn eyed her carefully, her hand sliding down to grip Ryan's wrist in case there was a need to defend themselves.

"Follow me please for your accommodations." McGonagall stated crisply. The students slowly stood and began to file after her, carefully positioning themselves in a defense formation. The meisters kept their hands ready to catch their weapons at a moment's notice.

McGonagall led them through the castle and down the stairs to a dungeon looking level. Slowly she walked up to a a statue of a monk with his head bowed in prayer. "The password as of now is 'soul' as requested by your headmaster. However, you may feel free to change it any time you see fit."

"Thank you for the warm welcome." Kid smiled at her. "We can get ourselves settled from here."

He looked up at the monk and stated the password, only the slight twitch of his brows betraying his shock as the statue bowed and stepped aside to reveal an entryway. The rest of them followed him into a large living room with a roaring fireplace. It was decorated with various shades of brown, overall looking quite neutral. To the sides were four different sets of doors presumably for the four meister-weapon pairs.

They heard the statue leap backing place, effectively sealing them into the room. Everyone sighed with relief and settled themselves around the room. Soul and Maka claimed the cushy love-seat by the fireplace, wrapping around each other with a deep familiarity. Black Star was sprawled across the floor while Tsubaki claimed a simple reading chair. Kid and the twins settled themselves on the couch, being as symmetrical as they possibly could.

There were no seats left, Lynn noted to herself while she and Ryan stood there awkwardly. It was that moment that reminded her that while she was allowed on this mission, they were by no means a part of Spartoi and they never would be. They had still been members of the NOT class when the whole debacle on the moon happened.

"Uhh, Ryan and I are just gonna get settled then." Lynn said awkwardly. "I'll see you all tomorrow."

Everyone else mumbled a good night as they leaned in to discuss strategy amongst themselves.

/

She felt a pang of hurt before Ryan grabbed her by the arm and gently pulled her to the closest door. Her jaw dropped as she took in the room in front of them.

A set of twin sized beds were opposite each other against the wall, their luggage settled at the end. There were elaborate wardrobed pressed against the wall and a window allowing the eerie green light of the water to shine in. She could see creatures swimming in the lake, her eyes softening in wonder.

"Ry, this is so cool." She said as she threw herself down on her bed "The witches are totally weird, but this is awesome. We're under a lake!"

He rolled his eyes good-naturedly. "They also threw us in the dungeons, in case you didn't notice."

"Okay then Debbie-downer! I don't know about you, but I'm going to sleep all that lovely jet lag off. Turn around so I can change." Lynn laughed as she pulled a pair of pajamas out. "On second thought, can I have one of your shirts? I left my Deathbucks one back home and I need a big t-shirt to sleep."

"Your wish is my command, oh powerful meister." Ryan teased as he dug through his duffel bag. He pulled out an Iron Meister shirt and tossed it over to her, laughing to himself at the little happy dance that she did. He quickly turned back around when she started to change, respecting her privacy as best as he could.

If he was being honest, the room that they were in reminded him of the dorm room that they had shared the year before even if Hogwarts was much nicer. They had gotten used to changing around each other and were generally very comfortable. It was part of what made them such good partners.

He pulled out a pair of DWMA sweatpants and a plain t-shirt out. "I'm gonna change real fast. You're welcome to the show but I'd keep my back turned if I were you."

"Ryan!" She exclaimed, tossing a pillow at him before making a show of covering her eyes. "I don't want to ruin your pure, virgin body with my nasty little witch eyes."

Lynn laughed when he tossed the pillow back at her hitting her square in the face. "Ugh, you suck."

"Yeah, yeah." He replied. "You know where the damn bathrooms are here? I've got to brush my teeth and I know you've had those contacts in for at least 15 hours."

It was the moment that he said that, that a door appeared on their wall out of nowhere. They approached it carefully, ready for any kind of attack when they opened the door. Lynn laughed in relief when it was just a bathroom and nothing else. The pair set to getting themselves ready for bed relatively quietly.

Once they were done they settled themselves into the twin beds, the lights dimming around them as if by magic. Only the pale green light from the lake was filling the room and casting their faces with an eerie glow.

"Hey, Ryan?" Lynn whispered across the room, her eyes wide.

"Yeah?" asked Ryan.

"You don't think the witches are going to force me to stay here, do you? I mean, they've tried for this long just to reach me. What if just visiting isn't enough for them?"

He rolled over to face her, his face soft in the dim light. "I won't let them take you. You're my best friend, no matter what happens I'm going to be by your side."

Everything went quiet for a few minutes and just when Ryan was beginning to think that she had fallen asleep, he heard her whisper a soft "Thank you."

"It's no problem Lynn." He took one, two deep breaths and closed his eyes and then everything went black.

* * *

 **And that's the first chapter! I tried to make them a little more realistic, and I actually went through the plot. There will be a lot of changes, to the characters as well as the relationships that are in GoF.**

 **Thank you! And don't forget to review!**


	2. Chapter 2

It was past noon when they finally awoke from their jet-lag induced slumber, as the sound of a fish slamming into their window had bolted them awake. Lynn yawned loudly and stretched while she sat up in bed. The girl blearily looked around to see her weapon shove his head back under the covers to catch a few more minutes of sleep. She slid out of bed, wincing at the cold stone floor beneath her feet. The girl all but ran into the bathroom and jumped into the shower, the water coming out steaming hot right away. Lynn spent the next fifteen minutes getting herself clean before she slid back out into the steamy bathroom.

With a groan she dried herself off and started dressing in the Spartoi uniform that had been provided to them for the mission. She had just finished her tie when her partner shuffled into the room while rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "Rise and shine, sleepyhead!"

"Urgh." He groaned over to her, slipping behind the stone barrier to get in the shower.

Lynn reached over the counter and grabbed her contacts and solution, carefully placing the lenses on her eyes. She sighed in relief as the blurry world around her was clear again before she took a look at herself. With a huff she set to fixing the little things about her uniform, straightening her tie and making sure the cuffs of her shirt were crisp and clean.

She spent a few minutes towel drying her hair before brushing it out and throwing it back in a ponytail. With one last look at her appearance she nodded and headed back into the bedroom, making sure to close the door loudly behind her so that her partner knew that she wan't in the room anymore.

The meister jumped when she walked into the room and noticed that the beds were both made and it looked as if it had been cleaned. She carefully reached into her bag to pull out the thigh-high white socks and the assigned Spartoi shoes. She sat on her bed and slid them on, jumping slightly when Ryan made his way out of the bathroom.

"Did you make the beds?" She looked over at him. "It was like this when I came out."

He sat down on his bed while he adjusted the bright red headband he had taken to wearing. "I can barely think when I wake up, I didn't make any beds. Maybe it's some spell the witches have on the place?"

"Just keep anything important locked away. I don't trust these people for a second." She stood up and stretched again. "C'mon, I want to eat."

"Do you even know what time it is?" Ryan questioned her but stood anyways.

"Yeah," She laughed. "It's 'Lynn is hungry so let's find food' o'clock."

They walked out into the living room to see Soul and Maka sitting on the couch cuddling. Soul looked like he was drifting off to sleep while Maka was reading an insanely thick book. Lynn made her way over to them and leaned over the back of the couch. "Hey, do you know if they're giving out food yet?"

"We were just about to head down there if you want to walk with us?" Maka offered, shutting the book and putting into her messenger bag. "Soul's stomach has been growling for the past hour."

She pulled her partner up off the couch and led the way towards the entrance of their room. As they got closer the monk seemed to sense them and jump aside, sliding back into place after they had left. The four of them chattered quietly as they made their way out of the dungeons to where they had eaten the night before. Soul and Ryan were exchanging 'cool guy' tips and comparing their respective headbands while Maka seemed more immersed in thought.

Lynn looked up at the older meister and tried to smile. "Did you guys decide who's going to be entering the tournament?"

"Soul and I are." Maka said quietly. "We're the only Death Scythe pair in the group. Kid can't enter because he's the future Lord Death and it isn't fair to allow someone Tsubaki's age to compete against 17 year olds."

"Are you nervous?" Lynn asked, wringing her hands.

"I'm confident that Soul and I will make it through it. The goal isn't to win, it's just to survive in one piece." Maka looked down and smiled reassuringly at her. "Don't worry. We've faced a lot more than what these witches are going to try to throw at us."

Lynn smiled back. "I just don't want anyone to get hurt. It's my fault that we're here, if something happened to you guys…"

"We'll be fine." Maka laughed. "That's a promise."

They walked into the entrance hall together they saw about twenty people just walking around, some of them eating toast, all examining the Goblet of Fire. It had been placed in the center of the hall on a stool. A thin golden line had been traced on the floor, forming a circle ten feet around it in every direction. Maka looked over at Soul and nodded, reaching out to grab his hand.

She pulled a folded up piece of paper out of her coat pocket and they approached the Goblet together. A hush fell over the room as Soul and Maka stepped over the golden line, still hand in hand. They looked at each other and smiled before holding out the piece of paper together. They dropped it in together and walked away before the fire could even turn red in acceptance. They continued back over to the Gryffindor table where they had sat to eat the night before and nonchalantly started to eat their breakfast.

Lynn shrugged at Ryan and went to follow them in, smiling when she spotted that Hermione girl from last night. She flounced up to her and sat down, causing the girl to jump. "Good afternoon, Hermione!"

"Hello Lynn, Ryan." Hermione nodded politely before turning back to her book. Ryan simply looked at the girl funny and shrugged, deciding to go ahead and start devouring everything in sight.

But Lynn was not to be ignored that afternoon. "So, we were wondering if you could show us around today? All we've seen so far is this room and the dungeons. Did you know that the lake has a squid in it? I swear it waved to me!"

"Oh, umm, of course I will." Hermione sputtered, her face tinged pink again. "Is there anything you want to see in particular?"

Lynn thought for a minute before smiling to herself. "Do you have anything like a yearbook? I don't know if that's just an American thing, but apparently my birth parents went here and it would be nice if I could see a picture of them."

Hermione smiled shyly. "I think we have a student directory in the library. I've never looked at in but it might have some photographs."

"Perfect!" She grinned and proceeded to turn her attention back to the food that was spread out in front of them. She almost moaned in happiness as she took in all that was available. Lynn grabbed a plate and began filling it with everything that she could, even the weird looking British foods.

The three of them sat in silence while they ate, Hermione busy reading while the DWMA students were busy shoving the food in their mouths as fast as they could. Being able to live in their own apartment really was fun and they loved having that kind of freedom, but neither Lynn nor Ryan were very good at cooking and they had grown accustomed to the taste of burnt food. To have something that was so perfectly prepared without a single accidental fire incident was like heaven to them.

Ryan had just finished shoving the last piece of bacon into his mouth when Lynn let out a happy sigh. "That was amazing. Do you eat like this every day, Hermione?"

"Um, yes I suppose." Hermione looked at her funny.

"Excellent." Ryan grinned. "Are you ready for exploring?"

Lynn all but leapt out of her seat and grabbed Hermione by the arm. "C'mon, we've got to go. I want to see the library first, if there are any pictures of my mom and dad then I don't want to wait another minute."

Hermione laughed to herself but got up and started leading the way through the entrance hall. Several of the Hogwarts students looked over at them and whispered, causing Hermione to duck her head in embarrassment. Lynn and Ryan frowned at the students who were whispering, confused as to what was such a big deal.

The whispers died down as they got further and further away from the crowds until it was just the three of them walking through the halls. Ryan was whistling quietly while Hermione still had her head down as if she was expecting more whispers. She frowned as she looked over at the bushy haired girl who just gave off an air of insecurity. "What was all that about?"

"They were wondering what you're doing with me. I don't have very many friends, people tend to find me bossy and bookwormish." Hermione replied, keeping her eyes firmly planted on the ground.

"Eh, they're jerks then." Ryan scoffed. "No one's perfect, certainly none of those rude ass witches."

The girl jerked her head up and look at him curiously. "That's the second time you've called us all witches like you aren't one."

"We aren't." He replied simply. "I mean, Lynn sorta is, but she doesn't have any interest in magic."

Hermione looked like she was going to says something when Lynn interrupted her. "We're students of the Death Weapon Meister Academy in America. Ryan's a weapon and I'm a meister. We don't use magic."

"Doesn't that school kill witches?" Hermione's voice had a hysterical tinge to it.

"Only the North American ones." Lynn said soothingly. "They're the ones that let themselves fall under the influence of Madness. It's warped their souls into something unnatural and wicked. We kill them to protect ourselves and others."

"We're just here to watch this stupid tournament," Ryan added. "Lynn and I can't even compete. Lord Death only allowed us on this mission so that Lynn could learn something about her birth parents."

"So you're not going to hurt anyone?" Hermione asked suspiciously. "Headmaster Dumbledore won't let you even if you want to."

"Unless there is a kishin present or someone attacks us, we're totally safe." Lynn promised her.

Hermione let out a sigh of relief and continued to lead them towards the library, a newfound bounce in her steps. Once they reached the massive room, she led them straight towards the back to where a large book was dissing completely covered in dust. Hermione took a breath and blew all the dust off of it and into the air, revealing the title _Hogwarts Student Directory_.

She opened up the book to reveal a page of instructions. "It says to state their names and touch the page with your wand. Do you know what their names were, Lynn?"

"Umm," Lynn wracked her brain. "I'm not sure of my mom's maiden name, but my dad's name was James Potter if that helps?"

Hermione's wand fell to the ground with a clatter, the witch looking up at her with wide eyes. "James and Lily Potter were your parents?"

"Yeah, how did you know my mom's name?"

Her eyes were still huge as she spoke in a rush. "Lynn, what is your real name?"

"It's Evelyn," Lynn said slowly. "Evelyn Potter-Barrett. Why?"

"Oh sweet Merlin," Hermione breathed out. "You're the Girl-Who-Lived!"

Ryan moved himself in front of Lynn, blocking her in a protective manner. "She's the what?"

"The Girl-Who-Lived!" The witch exclaimed. "The only known person to survive the Killing Curse? Lynn, you're famous!"

Lynn moved away quickly, holding onto Ryan's wrist for dear life. "I'm just Lynn. I'm a meister of the DWMA, I live to serve Lord Death. I'm sorry, but you're wrong. There's no way that I'm this girl that you think that I am."

"No, really! You're in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century. Everyone knows your name." Hermione rushed out. "But everything I read said that you were raised by family until you mysteriously disappeared one day. They've been searching for you for years!"

"The only place that I've been has been Death City." Lynn explained slowly. "My aunt dumped me at the DWMA when I was just a baby. She didn't want me. Sid Barrett _raised_ me, he and Black Star are the only family that I have."

She moved from behind Ryan, despite him trying to keep her in place. Hermione was still looking gat her like she was something out of a fairytale. Though to the witches, she might as well be. She reached out gently and grabbed Hermione's hand with an uncharacteristically serious look on her face. "I need you to tell me everything."

And Hermione did. She pulled Ryan and Lynn over to a secluded table in the back and began to weave her tale. She told them about the rise of the Dark Lord Voldemort and of the terror that he brought to the world. She told them about the way that the people never gave up fighting against him and that her parents had been a part of that. And she finally told Lynn of that faithful Halloween night when Voldemort attacked her home. She told them how her parts were killed but somehow she had managed to survive the Killing Curse and Voldemort had been defeated.

When all was said and done Lynn leaned back in her chair, blinking in disbelief. All the questions that had gone unanswered her whole life were right there out in the open. This was where she came from, who her parents were. They weren't just evil witches, they were heroes just like she had always hoped that they would be.

Tears filled her eyes as she stared down at the table. "Thank you. I-I never knew anything about them. I didn't even know their names until a few days ago. This really means a lot to me."

Hermione flushed bright red. "It's not a big deal, really!"

"It was kind of you though." Ryan pointed out. "But I think it's best that Lynn has some time alone."

He stood up and pulled Lynn up as well, nodding at Hermione as he led the crying girl out of the library. The two walked in silence, only the sounds of Lynn's sniffling filling the air. They had reached the dungeons when he finally pulled her into an alcove without warning. Ryan grabbed her face and forced her to look up at him. "Lynn, I need you to snap out of it. We have to be in the food hall in an hour."

She sniffled loudly. "They died today, Ry. Why didn't anyone tell me about them?"

His eyes softened as he looked down at her. "I don't think that anyone knew. Besides, would it have changed anything? Sid is still the one who raised you. Look at me." He tilted her chin up. "You are Lynn Potter-Barrett. You're a meister of the DWMA and my partner. Death City, Nevada is your home. That is who you are, nothing will ever change that."

"You're right." She wiped her eyes hastily. "I need to get a grip. You always know what to say, thank you Ry."

"I've got you, 'til the final sweep of Death's scythe." Ryan vowed.

Lynn smiled at him. "Until the final sweep of Death's scythe."

He snorted and pulled them out of the alcove. "C'mon, let's get all cleaned up before we go. You're looking awful asymmetrical right now."

They raced down the dungeon hallways, Lynn trying her best to catch him so that she could get him back for the comment he had just made. The two came screeching up to the monk guarding their living space with their cheeks red with laughter. Ryan barely managed to squeak out the password before they rushed inside.

Lynn finally caught him with a tackle on the couch. "Time to meet your doom!"

"No, anything but that!" He laughed as she set to tickling him as she straddled his waist. Lynn went after every single spot that she knew on him until the boy's eyes were filled with tears and his cheeks were red. Finally she leaned back with a satisfied look on her face.

"Who's the asymmetrical one now?"

When threatened with more tickling, Ryan laughed and admitted it. "It's me! No more, oh great meister!"

She slid off his lap with a satisfied grin. "That's what I thought. Now let's get ready before one of the witches puts a nasty spell on us~"

/

By the time that the two made their way into the food hall, which they had finally learned was called the Great Hall, it was nearly full. They had to squint in the candlelight to find the red table they had been sitting at where the other DWMA students were. They made their way over, Lynn greeting Kid with a swift kiss and a smile. She looked up to see that the Goblet of Fire had been moved in front of the table that all the Hogwarts teachers sat. With a frown she noticed that the spot for the DWMA representative was still empty, but decided to ask about it later.

The feast that they were treated to managed to be even more grand than the one the day before. The food that was prepared was extremely extravagant, with dishes from all different cultures lining the tables. Yet the students seemed to focus more on the Goblet at the front, craning their necks to see if the teachers had finished eating yet.

After what seemed like a small eternity, the golden plates were returned to their previously spotless state and the Great Hall erupted with chatter. It died almost immediately when the Headmaster of Hogwarts stood. The man from Durmstrang was extremely tense looking while the other men around him were a mixture of extreme excitement and extreme boredom.

"Well, the goblet is almost ready to make its decision," said Dumbledore. "I estimate that it requires one more minute. Now, when

the champions' names are called, I would ask them please to come up to the top of the Hall, walk along the staff table, and go through into the next chamber" — he indicated the door behind the staff table — "where they will be receiving their first instructions."

He took out his wand and gave a great sweeping wave with it; at once, all the candles except those inside the carved pumpkins were extinguished, plunging them into a state of semidarkness. The Goblet of Fire now shone more brightly than anything in the whole Hall, the sparkling bright, bluey-whiteness of the flames almost painful on the eyes.

The flames inside the goblet turned suddenly red again. Sparks began to fly from it. Next moment, a tongue of flame shot into the air, a charred piece of parchment fluttered out of it — the whole room gasped.

Dumbledore caught the piece of parchment and held it at arm's length, so that he could read it by the light of the flames, which had

turned back to blue-white. "The champion for Durmstrang," he read, in a strong, clear voice, "will be Viktor Krum."

A storm of applause swept through the Hall as a rather stocky, glum looking boy rose from the green table. Everyone seemed to be oddly excited that this particular boy was chosen from the way that they were all whispering. Krum disappeared behind the staff table and walked into the back room quickly. The clapping and chatting died down. Now everyone's attention was focused again on the goblet, which, seconds later, turned red once more. A second piece of parchment shot out of it, propelled by the flames.

"The champions for the Death Weapon Meister Academy," said Dumbledore, "are Maka Albarn and Soul Eater!"

The DWMA students erupted into hoots and stomping as the Scythe duo made their way up. Maka's eyes were shining with determination and while Soul seemed to be calm, she could see the fire and energy that was just beneath the surface

Lynn grinned widely at the others. "They're going to do great, I just know it!"

A hush fell over the room as the Goblet of Fire turned red once more; sparks showered out of it; the tongue of flame shot high into the air, and from its tip Dumbledore pulled the third piece of parchment.

"The Hogwarts champion," he called, "is Cedric Diggory!"

The uproar from the yellow table was almost immediate. Every single one of them had jumped to his or her feet, screaming and stamping, as Cedric made his way past them, grinning broadly, and headed off toward the chamber behind the teachers' table. Indeed, the applause for Cedric went on so long that it was some time before Dumbledore could make himself heard again.

"Excellent!" Dumbledore called happily as at last the tumult died down. "Well, we now have our three champions. I am sure I can count upon all of you, including the remaining students from the DWMA and Durmstrang, to give your champions every ounce of support you can muster. By cheering your champion on, you will contribute in a very real —"

But Dumbledore suddenly stopped speaking, and it was apparent to everybody what had distracted him. The fire in the goblet had just turned red again. Sparks were flying out of it. A long flame shot suddenly into the air, and borne upon it was another piece of parchment.

Automatically, it seemed, Dumbledore reached out a long hand and seized the parchment. He held it out and stared at the name written upon it. There was a long pause, during which Dumbledore stared at the slip in his hands, and everyone in the room stared at Dumbledore. And then Dumbledore cleared his throat and read out —

"Evelyn Potter."

Everyone in the Hall began to look around for their mysterious savior girl, as if she was to suddenly fall from the sky. But for Lynn, nothing was registering. The only thing she could hear was the rush of blood in her ears, everything else nothing but a dim roar. She could vaguely feel Ryan shaking her, trying his best to pull her to her feet.

She blinked slowly when she heard Kid call her name, staring up at him blankly. His face was pinched in anger and his yellow eyes seeming to glow. With one last tug Ryan managed to pull her to her feet. She looked back at Kid in confusion. "Wait..wha..?"

"Go." He commanded her. "I'll sort this all out, it's alright."

Lynn shook her head. "I can't, I'm not a witch. I'm not old enough for this, why did my name come out? I didn't put my name in. Who put my name in Kid?"

"Evelyn Potter!" Dumbledore called again. "Evelyn! Up here, if you please!"

Ryan pulled her away from the table and towards the Headmaster. It felt as if she was making the guillotine walk to see Lord Death after she had messed up on a mission. Everyone in the hall was staring at her and whispering about who she was. The rushing sound in her ears just kept getting louder and if it wasn't for the grip that her partner had on her arm, she might have floated away.

"Well...through the door, Evelyn," said Dumbledore. He wasn't smiling.

Lynn and Ryan moved off along the teachers' table. They went through the door out of the Great Hall and found themselves in a smaller room, lined with paintings of witches and wizards. A handsome fire was roaring in the fireplace opposite him.

Viktor Krum, Cedric Diggory, Soul and Maka were grouped around the fire. They looked strangely impressive, silhouetted against the flames. Krum, hunched-up and brooding, was leaning against the mantelpiece, slightly apart from the other three. Cedric was standing with his hands behind his back, staring into the fire. Soul and Maka were huddled together, their hands tightly intertwined. Maka started when she saw the other two walk in.

"What's going on?" Maka asked. "Is everything alright?"

There was a sound of scurrying feet behind them, and Ludo Bagman entered the room. He snatched Lynn by the arm and led her forward.

"Extraordinary!" he muttered, squeezing Lynn's arm. "Absolutely extraordinary! Gentlemen...lady," he added, approaching the fireside and addressing the other four. "May I introduce — incredible though it may seem — the fifth Triwizard champion?"

Viktor Krum straightened up. His surly face darkened as he surveyed Lynn. Cedric looked nonplussed. He looked from Bagman to Lynn and back again as though sure he must have misheard what Bagman had said. Soul and Maka both frowned and before anyone could blink, Soul had transformed.

The sharp tip of the scythe was pressed against Bagman's throat as the man went pale. Maka glared and pushed the weapon against him more. "Let her go, now."

Bagman dropped her arm as if it burned him and Maka snatched Lynn to stand behind her. Ryan rushed over and took a jump, transforming into a deadly looking iron club in mid air. Lynn caught him with a practiced ease and stood with her back against Maka's, ready for an attack. The door behind them opened again, and a large group of people came in: Professor Dumbledore, followed closely by Mr. Crouch, Professor Karkaroff,, Professor McGonagall, and a man with long, greasy black hair. Lynn heard the buzzing of the hundreds of students on the other side of the wall, before Professor McGonagall closed the door.

"What is going on here?" McGonagall shrilled, pulling her wand out.

Maka all but snarled at the witch. "That man," she motioned at Bagman with Soul. "put his hands on Lynn. What kind of nonsense is going on? Why did he say that Lynn was a champion? She's only 14!"

"I'd rather like to know that myself, Dumbledore," said Professor Karkaroff. He was wearing a steely smile, and his blue eyes were like chips of ice. "It was enough to allow two DWMA champions, but four? I don't remember anyone telling me the newest school is allowed two champions — or have I not read the rules carefully enough?" He gave a short and nasty laugh.

"I was under the impression that your Age Line would keep out younger contestants, Dumbledore," said Karkaroff, his steely smile still in place, though his eyes were colder than ever. "Otherwise, I would, of course, have brought along a wider selection of candidates from my own school."

"It's no one's fault but Miss Potter's, Karkaroff," said the black haired man softly. His black eyes were alight with malice. "It seems our little celebrity believes that she is above the rules unlike —"

"Thank you, Severus," said Dumbledore firmly, and the man went quiet, though his eyes still glinted malevolently through his curtain of greasy black hair. Professor Dumbledore was now looking down at Lynn, who simply raised Ryan higher in warning for him not to take a step closer.

"Did you put your name into the Goblet of Fire, Evelyn?" he asked calmly.

"Of course not!" Lynn snapped. "How stupid do you think I am?"

"Did you ask an older student to put it into the Goblet of Fire for you?" said Professor Dumbledore.

"No," said Lynn vehemently.

Karkaroff sneered at her. "She is obviously lying."

"She could not have crossed the Age Line," said Professor McGonagall sharply. "I am sure we are all agreed on that —"

"Then there has been a mistake!" said Karkaroff quickly. "There is no other way that the girl could have entered her name in."

"It is possible, of course," said Dumbledore politely

"Dumbledore, you know perfectly well you did not make a mistake!" said Professor McGonagall angrily. "Really, what nonsense! Miss Potter could not have crossed the line herself, and as Professor Dumbledore believes that she did not persuade an older student to do it for her, I'm sure that should be good enough for everybody else!"

"Mr. Crouch...Mr. Bagman," said Karkaroff, his voice unctuous once more, "you are our — er — objective judges. Surely you will agree that this is most irregular?"

Bagman wiped his round, boyish face with his handkerchief and looked at Mr. Crouch, who was standing outside the circle of the firelight, his face half hidden in shadow. He looked slightly eerie, the half darkness making him look much older, giving him an almost skull-like appearance. When he spoke, however, it was in his usual curt voice. "We must follow the rules, and the rules state clearly that those people whose names come out of the Goblet of Fire are bound to compete in the tournament."

"Well, Barty knows the rule book back to front," said Bagman, beaming and turning back to Karkaroff, as though the matter was now closed.

"I insist upon resubmitting the names of the rest of my students," said Karkaroff. He had dropped his unctuous tone and his smile now. His face wore a very ugly look indeed. "You will set up the Goblet of Fire once more, and we will continue adding names until each school has two champions. It's only fair, Dumbledore."

"But Karkaroff, it doesn't work like that," said Bagman. "The Goblet of Fire's just gone out — it won't reignite until the start of the next tournament —"

"— in which Durmstrang will most certainly not be competing!" exploded Karkaroff. "After all our meetings and negotiations and compromises, I little expected something of this nature to occur! I have half a mind to leave now!"

"Empty threat, Karkaroff," growled a voice from near the door. "You can't leave your champion now. He's got to compete. They've all got to compete. Binding magical contract, like Dumbledore said. Convenient, eh?"

One of the most grotesque men that Lynn had ever seen had just entered the room. It looked as though his had been carved out of weathered wood by someone who had only the vaguest idea of what human faces are supposed to look like, and was none too skilled with a chisel. Every inch of skin seemed to be scarred. The mouth looked like a diagonal gash, and a large chunk of the nose was missing. One of his eyes was small, dark, and beady. The other was large, round as a coin, and a vivid, electric blue. The blue eye was moving ceaselessly, without blinking, and was rolling up, down, and from side to side, quite independently of the normal eye — and then it rolled right over, pointing into the back of the man's head, so that all they could see was white. The man limped toward the fire, and with every right step he took, there was a loud clunk.

"Convenient?" said Karkaroff. "I'm afraid I don't understand you, Moody."

"Don't you?" said Moody quietly. "It's very simple, Karkaroff. Someone put Potter's name in that goblet knowing she'd have to compete if it came out."

"Someone who wished to give the newest school an advantage!" said Karkaroff with a sneer. "I shall be lodging complaints with the Ministry of Magic and the International Confederation of Wizards —"

"If anyone's got reason to complain, it's Potter," growled Moody, "but...funny thing...I don't hear her saying a word…."

Lynn finally snapped, stomping her foot childishly. "I want to talk to my dad, I'm not doing this!"

"Where is the representative from Lord Death anyways?" Maka asked suspiciously. "They were supposed to have arrived by now."

Dumbledore moved his hands in a somewhat calming fashion. "Mr. Barrett is scheduled to arrive by Floo any moment now, if you will step away from the fireplace."

"I'm not saying anything until my dad gets here." Lynn replied stubbornly. "Why would I even want to compete in this stupid tournament?"

"A thousand Galleons is a lot of money." said Karkaroff slyly. "It is a change most would die for."

"Maybe someone's hoping Potter is going to die for it," said Moody, with the merest trace of a growl.

An extremely tense silence followed these words. Ludo Bagman, who was looking very anxious indeed, bounced nervously up and down on his feet and said, "Moody, old man...what a thing to say!"

"We all know Professor Moody considers the morning wasted if he hasn't discovered six plots to murder him before lunchtime," said Karkaroff loudly. "Apparently he is now teaching our youth to fear assassination too. An odd quality in a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Dumbledore, but no doubt you had your reasons."

"Imagining things, am I?" growled Moody. "Seeing things, eh? It was a skilled witch or wizard who put the girl's name in that goblet…."

"Show me the proof of that, Mad-Eye." Karkaroff growled.

"Because they hoodwinked a very powerful magical object!" said Moody. "It would have needed an exceptionally strong Confundus Charm to bamboozle that goblet into forgetting that only three schools compete in the tournament...I'm guessing they submitted Potter's name under a fourth school, to make sure she was the only one in his category…."

"You seem to have given this a great deal of thought, Moody," said Karkaroff coldly, "and a very ingenious theory it is — though of course, I heard you recently got it into your head that one of your birthday presents contained a cunningly disguised basilisk egg, and smashed it to pieces before realizing it was a carriage clock. So you'll understand if we don't take you entirely seriously..."

"There are those who'll turn innocent occasions to their advantage," Moody retorted in a menacing voice. "It's my job to think the way Dark wizards do, Karkaroff — as you ought to remember…."

Before the man could say another word, the fire turned an ominous green color. Lynn readied herself for an attack before all but dropped Ryan when Sid Barrett stepped through. The boy transformed back to his human form as she went running up to the zombie, wrapping her arms around him tightly. "Dad! You have to stop them, they're trying to make me compete in the tournament."

"I won't let them break the rules, that's not the kind of man I was." Sid replied roughly, allowing her to cling to him. "What in Death's name is happening here?"

"How this situation arose, we do not know," said Dumbledore, speaking to everyone gathered in the room. "It seems to me, however, that we have no choice but to accept it. Evelyn Potter has been selected to participate in the Triwizard Tournament. This, therefore, she will do…."

"Lynn entered?" growled Sid in surprise. "That doesn't seem like the kind of girl she is."

"Mr. Barrett, if you have an alternative, I would be delighted to hear it." Dumbledore waited, but Sid did not speak, he

merely stared back at him thoughtfully. The greasy haired man looked furious; Karkaroff livid; Bagman, however, looked rather excited.

"Well, shall we crack on, then?" he said, rubbing his hands together and smiling around the room. "Got to give our champions their instructions, haven't we? Barty, want to do the honors?"

Mr. Crouch seemed to come out of a deep reverie. "Yes," he said, "instructions. Yes...the first task…" He moved forward into the firelight. Close up, Lynn thought he looked ill. There were dark shadows beneath his eyes and a thin, papery look about his wrinkled skin. Her father was a zombie and he still looked healthier and more alive than Mr. Crouch did at that moment.

"The first task is designed to test your daring," he told Lynn, Ryan, Viktor, Cedric, Soul and Maka, "so we are not going to be telling you what it is. Courage in the face of the unknown is an important quality in a wizard...very important….The first task will take place on November the twenty-fourth, in front of the other students and the panel of judges. The champions are not permitted to ask for or accept help of any kind from their teachers to complete the tasks in the tournament. The champions will face the first challenge armed only with their wands or erm, demon weapons. They will receive information about the second task when the first is over. Owing to the demanding and time-consuming nature of the tournament, the champions are exempted from end-of-year tests."

Mr. Crouch turned to look at Dumbledore. "I think that's all, is it, Albus?"

"I think so," said Dumbledore, who was looking at Mr. Crouch with mild concern. "Are you sure you wouldn't like to stay at Hogwarts tonight, Barty?"

"No, Dumbledore, I must get back to the Ministry," said Mr. Crouch. "It is a very busy, very difficult time at the moment...I've left young Weatherby in charge...Very enthusiastic...a little overenthusiastic, if truth be told..."

"You'll come and have a drink before you go, at least?" said Dumbledore.

"Come on, Barty, I'm staying!" said Bagman brightly. "It's all happening at Hogwarts now, you know, much more exciting here than at the office!"

"I think not, Ludo," said Crouch with a touch of his old impatience.

"Professor Karkaroff — Mr. Barrett — a nightcap?" said Dumbledore.

Sid shook his head. "We have much to discuss, Professor. I believe that Lord Death was very clear about the participation of his students."

Karkaroff beckoned to Krum, and they exited in silence before anyone could say anything else to them. "Cedric, I suggest you go up to bed," said Dumbledore, smiling at the boy. "I am sure Hufflepuff is waiting to celebrate with you, and it would be a shame to deprive them of this excellent excuse to make a great deal of mess and noise."

Maka looked over to Sid who nodded to her. With one last spin, Soul transformed back into his human form and they made their way out of the room flanking Lynn and Ryan the entire way. The Great Hall was deserted now; the candles had burned low, giving the jagged smiles of the pumpkins an eerie, flickering quality. Cedric Diggory was standing out there looking slightly lost, smiling at them as he approached.

"So," said Cedric, with a slight smile. "We're competing against each other."

"I doubt that Sid will let Lynn compete." Maka sniffed. "It's absolutely barbaric what you witches are trying to do."

Cedric looked over at Lynn with surprise. "Are you actually Evelyn Potter?"

"I prefer Lynn," She replied shakily. "And it's Potter-Barrett. That's my dad in there with your Headmaster."

"So...tell me..." said Cedric as they reached the entrance hall, which was now lit only by torches in the absence of the Goblet of Fire. "How did you get your name in?"

"I didn't," said Lynn, staring up at him. "I don't want anything to do with the witches, it doesn't make sense for me to enter a witch competition."

"Ah...okay," said Cedric. Lynn could tell the boy didn't believe her, but it didn't really matter to her. "Well...see you, then."

The boy disappeared down a set of wooden stairs while the others began to make their way to the dungeons. Lynn jumped when she felt Ryan place a hand on her shoulder. He shook his head and explained to her. "You're shaking, c'mere."

He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. Lynn shuddered again and pressed herself up against his much warmer body. Behind them she could hear Soul and Maka conversing quietly in the kind of half conversation that they always did. When someone had been partners for as long as they had and had created a Death Scythe together, words just weren't needed sometimes. A simple look could spell out more than any word ever could.

There were a few Hogwarts students roaming the basement, their green ties loosened around their necks. There was one rather pointy blonde boy in particular who sneered at her as they passed, as if she had done something to personally offend him. Ryan tightened his grip around her and began walking faster almost forcing her to jog in order to keep up with his longer strides.

They made it to the monk statue a few minutes later, Ryan growling out the password. They rushed into the living room where the rest of their friends were out waiting on them. Immediately everyone came up to them asking a million question. It was Kid that pulled Lynn away from Ryan, wrapping her in a tight hug.

He kissed her on the exact center of her forehead. "I've contacted Father, he and Sid should have this fixed by tomorrow."

"That's what Dad said, but what if they can't fix it?" mumbled Lynn. "They said it was a magically binding contract, will it kill me to just not compete?"

Kid sighed and pulled her over to the couch, the others following suit. He sat down and pulled her close against him. "There is a lot about these witches that we do not know. If we cannot free you from the competition, we will do our best to keep you alive and safe throughout it."

"One of the teachers here, they called him Moody, he said that someone was trying to kill me." She whispered. "I don't even know anyone here, who would possibly want me dead?"

Her brother had been uncharacteristically quiet up until that point. "I'd like to see them try to kill one of my faithful minions!"

"I'm your little sister 'Star, not your minion." Lynn giggled despite herself.

"Pah!" He waved his hand. "They won't be able to beat such a big guy as me!"

"Besides, Kiddo here would blow a gasket if anything happened to you." Liz rolled her eyes before going back to filing her nails. "You're the only one willing to put up with his freakiness."

Lynn managed to let out another small giggle. Despite the fact that she was worried, she was surrounded by people that would do anything that they could in order to keep her safe. Sitting there in a strange room underneath an even stranger lake, Lynn felt more protected and secure than she ever had before.

It was that moment, looking out at her friends and family, that she decided that she would win this thing. She was a meister of the DWMA, the daughter of Sid Barrett, girlfriend of the son of Death himself. It didn't matter who had entered her into the competition, in that moment in time she knew that she was going to be alright.

She would be strong strong, until the final sweep of Death's scythe.

* * *

 **Chapter 2 just for you! I really hope you all liked it, please don't forget to review and tell me your thoughts on everything. I'm so amazed at the results so far, over 100 follows with just one chapter? Y'all are literally the best :)**

 **ALSO, if anyone would be interested in beta reading my chapters or just being someone to bounce ideas off of then please PM me**


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning had been as awful as she had been expecting. Before people knew that she was really Evelyn Potter, the famous Girl-Who-Lived, they had ignored her. All they had sen her as was some strange foreign girl that spoke to Hermione Granger. But now that they knew who she was, it was a whole different ballpark. Lynn and Ryan had walked into the Great Hall only to have every single student turn and stare at them. Whispers broke out amongst them, some people even pointing over at her. She felt her face heat with an embarrassed blush before Ryan pulled her way from the entrance towards where Hermione was sitting.

"Hello," she said, turning away from the book she was reading. "How are you doing?"

They both sat down quickly and began filling their plates. Lynn took a long swig of pumpkin juice before finally answering Hermione. "I'm alright. My dad and Kid are trying to get me out of it, but from what Mr. Dumbledore was saying it sounds like I'm going to have to compete."

"You didn't enter yourself, did you?" Hermione asked quietly. "The look on your face when Dumbledore read out your name! But the question is, who did put it in?"

"That guy, Professor Moody, said that it was probably someone who wanted me dead." said Lynn around a piece of toast. "I don't know why, I haven't been here long enough to really make anyone angry."

Ryan snorted. "I think the squid might have it out for you. Your snoring probably keeps the poor thing up at night."

Lightning fast, she reached around and smacked him on the back of the head. "Don't be an asshole." She muttered.

"There are still people out there that support You-Know-Who," Hermione whispered. "Do you think it was one of them?"

Lynn stopped mid bite when Hermione said that. What if it was one of that creep's supporters? Did they know that she was at the school? But how would they know? No one except for Hermione knew that she was the Girl-Who-Lived before last night and the girl didn't seem like the kind of person that would want to harm another.

"I don't think so." said Lynn slowly. "They'd have to have known I was coming here and there's no way that a witch made it inside Death City to spy on us even if they knew that I was living there all along. There are just too many improbabilities. Plus, it's not just me. Ryan has to compete too since he's my weapon and I don't think he's ever made anyone angry in his life."

Hermione frowned but agreed and the three of them turned back to their breakfast. Being around Hermione was nice, Lynn admitted to herself. She spent a lot of time around people who were at least two years older than her and they were either super focused like Maka, quiet like Tsubaki, or wild like the Thompson twins. Never in her life had she had a normal girlfriend her age. Even though they didn't know each other all that well it was still fun to talk to the witch.

It was sad that the rest of the school didn't seem to see it that way. Lynn had seen the sneers that people threw at Hermione, the moving gestures that they thought that no one else would notice. Hermione was completely alone at this school and it just wasn't right.

Lynn looked up and down the red table, trying her best to learn the people that Hermione spent her days with. There was a group of three boys their age that were laughing loudly further down the table, a much quieter boy sitting near them but not really contributing. She noted one of the boys' bright red hair that he seemed to share with quite a few others at the table. There was a pair of mischievous looking identical twins further down and a small girl picking at her plate glumly. She turned back to Hermione and nudged her.

"Hey, what's with all the redheads?" asked Lynn.

"Oh," Hermione's eyes widened. "Those are the Weasleys. They're an old Pureblood family, been in Gryffindor for generations. That's Fred and George up there, they're nothing but trouble. Ron's in my year but we don't really talk. We had a row back in first year and I ended up hiding in a bathroom where a troll was. It almost killed me and he never seemed all that sorry about it."

Lynn nodded and took it all in before frowning. "What about the little one?"

"That's Ginevra." said Hermione. "She doesn't speak. There was an incident a few years ago and she hasn't said a word since. The school kept everything quiet so no one knows what really happened to her, just that it was pretty awful."

"This doesn't seem like a very safe school." Ryan narrowed his eyes. "Why come back?"

"It's the best Wizarding school in the world."

"I see." said Ryan slowly. "So does something like that happen every year or is the red house just unlucky?"

Hermione flushed pink with anger. "Gryffindors are very courageous!"

"I'm sure they are," Lynn placated her, pinching Ryan's thigh. "Do you want to go for a walk? This place is kind of suffocating with all the staring."

"Um, sure!" Hermione blinked in surprise. "We can walk around the Great Lake."

Ryan stood up and stretched. "I'm gonna take a rain check on that. 'Star and I are going to do some exploring in the dungeons."

"I'll catch you later then." Lynn smiled as she and Hermione started to walk away. She locked her arm with the other girl's and set off at a brisk pace. The people around them were whispering but for once Lynn didn't seem to care. The closer they got to being out of the castle and back into the outdoors her mood lifted. She was a Death Child, having grown up constantly roaming the streets and backwoods of Death City. Being trapped indoors just felt unnatural to her.

Outside of the castle really was beautiful. The grass was still somewhat green in the crisp November air and the lake at the bottom of the hill was shining a brilliant blue in the sunlight. A breeze blew by causing Lynn to shiver and rub her arms. The Spartoi uniform may be cute, but it was far from warm and it was only going to get colder. Lynn was just happy that she'd had the idea to wear her scarf that day.

Hermione led them to the edge of the lake where a tree was planted. The two girls settled themselves at the base of the tree and sighed, staring out at the gently lapping water. "This is nice." Lynn smiled up at her.

"I come here to think a lot." Hermione admitted. "Everyone is afraid of the giant squid so they stay away. It never comes close to shore but no one comes around enough to realize that."

"Their loss." Lynn shrugged. "Do you mind if I meditate some? It's very relaxing out here."

The witch smiled and nodded. "Of course, I'll just do a bit of light reading."

Lynn crossed her legs over each other and made sure that her skirt was covering everything before she closed her eyes. Taking in deep breaths she listened to the steady sound of the waves lapping against the shore. Clearing her mind of everything but that noise, she began to try to pull on her Soul Perception.

It was an ability that she was surprised that she had. It had been discovered during a training exercise with Professor Stein, but she hadn't been able to call on it since. She could see it in her mind's eye, a small green orb of power. All she had to do was reach out and grab it but it seemed no matter how far she reached it was just a breath away. She felt herself frown as the stubborn orb kept evading her. Now was the time that she needed it most, surrounded by witches and people who apparently wanted her dead.

She reached out again, straining her fingers. It was right there, she just had to reach out a little more and she felt her fingers brush it, she almost had it...just a little more —

"Ah, look, boys, it's the savior and the Mudblood," A mocking voice tore her out of her meditation. She looked up to see the same pointy blonde boy she had seen in the dungeons the night before standing in front of them with two bulkier boys flanking him. He even had the same sneer on his face.

Hermione crossed her arms angrily. "What do you want Malfoy?"

"Quiet mudblood, real magical people are talking." The newly dubbed Malfoy snarled. "I just wanted to see if the famous Girl-Who-Lived lived up to her reputation."

She looked him up and down. He was obviously part of the green house as she had seen the night before. His face was attractive but pale and pointy and had a look of false superiority on it, like he thought he was better than everyone else without having anything to back up that claim. His white blonde hair was slicked back carefully without a strand out of place. She wanted to laugh at how obvious it was that this boy wanted to impress her, he was dressed in nice clothes and had obviously gone looking for them. Malfoy was staring down at her expectantly as if he was waiting on her to do something spectacular.

Damn witches.

"I'm just a girl. There, are you satisfied?" Lynn rolled her eyes.

His gaze slid over her slowly, making her skin crawl. The boy smirked at her. "Very."

"If that's all, you can go now." She waved him off. "I was trying to meditate and you standing around insulting my friend is very disruptive."

"Friends? With the mudblood?" Malfoy laughed. "You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there."

She held back the urge to shudder in disgust. "I think I can handle myself. Go along now, you're not wanted."

"You'll regret this." Malfoy vowed before storming away, the other boys following suit. She rolled her eyes and stretched her arms out, too wound up to even think about meditating again. It was such a shame too, she had been so close to getting a grip on it too.

She leaned back and let the cool air surround her. Hermione had gone back to reading if the sound of pages turning was to be trusted. There was a loud splash from the lake and when she looked up, there was a tentacle waving in the air. Lynn giggled to herself and waved back, feeling rather silly for once.

The tree was comfortable to lean on, she noted. Everything about Hogwarts was very comfortable. From the beds to the food, even the furniture that they sat on was soft and accommodating. She tried to imagine her life if she hadn't been given up by her aunt. Would she have gone to Hogwarts like everyone else? Would she use magic like a normal witch? Who would be her friends, her enemies?

Lynn took a deep breath and tried to calm herself. It was weird to think about, how easily the course of her life had been changed. It took one woman deciding that she didn't want to raise her sister's child for Lynn to have everything. She couldn't imagine her life being different than what it was. Who would she be if she didn't have her dad's firm guidance and her brother's constant pranks? She wouldn't know Kid or Ryan, or any of them really. They would all be strangers. The DWMA wouldn't have even come to Scotland for the tournament to begin with if it wasn't for her.

"This place is nice." She said quietly. "I see why you like it here."

Hermione closed her book slowly. "This spot or Hogwarts?"

"Both." Lynn closed her eyes. "Makes me think about all the what if's, you know?"

"I do. After my second year my parents wanted to send me to Beauxbatons, the French wizarding school." Hermione admitted. "I wonder sometimes, what would it be like if I had just said yes."

"I'm glad that you're here, I never would have met you otherwise." Lynn smiled. "I don't know what it is, but I feel like I was meant to be friends with you, like we were best friends in another life."

"I think so too." The other girl smiled shyly. "You're a lot nicer than most people I know."

"I'm just being decent. But I was wondering," Lynn frowned. "That Malfoy guy, he called you a mudblood. What does that mean?"

"I'm Muggleborn, you see. Neither of my parents have magic." Hermione explained. "Racist pricks like Malfoy think that makes me inferior to Purebloods like him. They call me that because I have dirty Muggle blood in me."

Lynn scoffed. "What an idiot. I've only spoken to him for five minutes and I can already tell how much smarter you are than him."

"Isn't that the truth?" Hermione laughed. "All the Slytherins are like that."

The meister laughed and winked at Hermione. "Such a shame too, he was kind of cute. All the good ones are taken or crazy blood purists, am I right?"

Hermione burst into hysterical giggles, pulling Lynn into them as well. For the life of her, she couldn't figure out what was so funny but every time that she made eye contact with Hermione she was hit with another round laughter. It wasn't long before the girls were practically rolling on the ground clutching their stomachs. When they were finally able to calm down, Lynn propped herself up and looked over at Hermione's mess she called hair.

"Can I braid your hair?" Lynn blurted out.

Hermione looked taken aback for a moment. "I mean, you can if you want to. I'm afraid there's not much you can do to save it."

"Perfect, come sit in front of me so I can reach it." Lynn positioned the girl and set to working on it. The girl's massive curls made everything difficult, but she was able to start wrangling it into a french braid. The pair sad there in silence until Hermione piped up from where she was sitting in front of Lynn.

"What's it like in Death City anyways?"

Lynn grinned despite herself. "It's amazing. Just imagine a huge city right in the middle of a desert. The Academy is in the middle and you have to climb like two miles of stairs just to get to it every morning. There's never a dull moment. It's the craziest, most dangerous place I've ever been, but it's home. Maybe you can visit one day?"

Hermione's smile was wide and genuine for once and it struck Lynn just how pretty the girl was. She nudged Lynn's shoulder gently and nodded. "I think I would like that very much."

"Hermione," smiled Lynn. "I think we're going to be great friends."

/

The next week at Hogwarts was an interesting experience. With the arrival of Sid, their classes had resumed and they spent the majority of their days in an empty classroom they had claimed in the dungeon. Her dad had argued with them that even though they were on a mission they were still students of the DWMA and it wouldn't do for him to allow them to slip behind in their studies. For some reason, Soul and Maka had disappeared that day but she simply chocked it up to their side mission. Lord Death had given them an extra assignment as they were the only Death Scythe duo and the two had been oddly quiet about the whole thing.

It was during one of these classes that they were interrupted by a knock on the door. A small boy with a red tie around his neck poked his head in and made his way up to where Sid was writing about the logistics of soul resonance on the blackboard. He beamed when he caught sight of Lynn, who tried her best to smile back.

"I'm supposed to take all of the Triwizard champions upstairs." The boy squeaked, staring up at Sid's rather intimidating face.

"Can it wait until the lesson is over?" Sid grumbled at him. "Letting children miss class was not the kind of man I was."

"Sir — sir, Mr. Bagman wants him," he said nervously. "All the champions have got to go, I think they want to take photographs."

"Very well," Sid replied. "Leave your things, we'll have extra lessons tonight."

The two champions nodded and went to go, leaving their backpacks sitting next to the chairs they had occupied "Please, sir — they've got to take their things with them," squeaked the boy. "All the champions —"

"We'll be fine." Ryan interrupted him, placing his hand on the boy's shoulder. The five of them exited the room and began to make their way out of the dungeons while the little boy kept staring adoringly up at Lynn.

She frowned and looked down at him. "Do you know what they want pictures for?"

"The Daily Prophet, I think!"

"That's your newspaper, isn't it?" Ryan asked. The boy nodded eagerly and they continued on in silence as the boy just kept staring at Lynn the whole time.

"Good luck!" said the kid when they had reached the right room. Lynn knocked on the door and entered.

She and Ryan were in a fairly small classroom; most of the desks had been pushed away to the back of the room, leaving a large space in the middle; three of them, however, had been placed end-to-end in front of the blackboard and covered with a long length of velvet. Six chairs had been set behind the velvet-covered desks, and Ludo Bagman was sitting in one of them, talking to a witch Lynn had never seen before, who was wearing magenta robes.

Viktor Krum was standing moodily in a corner as usual and not talking to anybody. Cedric, Soul, and Maka looked as if they were deep in conversation. Soul and Maka were oddly relaxed in the situation. For how tense they had been the past couple of days due to all the access attention, they seemed completely unbothered.

There was paunchy man holding a large black camera that was smoking slightly, watching Soul and Maka out of the corner of his eye like they were some kind of mystery. Though, they must have been to the witches. Bagman suddenly spotted Lynn, got up quickly, and bounded forward.

"Ah, here she is! Champion number five! In you come, Evelyn, in you come...nothing to worry about, it's just the wand weighing ceremony, the rest of the judges will be here in a moment —"

"I don't use a wand." Lynn replied deadpan.

"Oh, well, yes of course you don't. Still, we have to check that all the wands are fully functional, no problems, you know, as they're the most important tools in the tasks ahead," said Bagman. "The expert's upstairs now with Dumbledore. And then there's going to be a little photo shoot. This is Rita Skeeter," he added, gesturing toward the witch in magenta robes. "She's doing a small piece on the tournament for the Daily Prophet…"

"Maybe not that small, Ludo," said Rita Skeeter, her eyes on Lynn. Her hair was set in elaborate and curiously rigid curls that contrasted oddly with her heavy-jawed face. She wore jeweled spectacles. The thick fingers clutching her crocodile-skin handbag ended in two-inch nails, painted crimson.

"I wonder if I could have a little word with Evelyn before we start?" she said to Bagman, but still gazing fixedly at Lynn. "The youngest champion, you know...to add a bit of color?"

"Certainly!" cried Bagman. "That is — if Evelyn has no objection?"

"Not without my partner present." said Lynn, crossing her arms stubbornly. "We're in this together."

"Lovely," said Rita Skeeter, and in a second, her scarlet-taloned fingers had Lynn's upper arm in a surprisingly strong grip, and she was trying to steer her out of the room when she found herself face first with a deadly looking iron club.

Lynn smiled widely. "You'd think you witches would learn that I don't appreciate being manhandled. We'll do the interview in the corner over there."

"We don't want to be in here with all that noise," Rita persisted, trying to head towards door on the side of the room. "Let's see...ah, yes, this is nice and cozy."

It was a broom cupboard. Lynn stared at her for a moment before laughing again. "Lady, you're insane if you think I'm going to trap myself in an enclosed space with a witch. We do the interview in full view of everyone else or we don't do it at all."

"Of course," Rita Skeeter smiled tightly, moving over to the more secluded corner of the room. She sat down on a wooden chest that was there and motioned for Lynn and Ryan to join her. "Let's see now…"

She unsnapped her crocodile-skin handbag and pulled out a long acid green quill and a roll of parchment, which she stretched out between them on a crate "You won't mind, Lynn, if I use a Quick-Quotes Quill? It leaves me free to talk to you normally…"

"A what?" said Lynn.

Rita Skeeter's smile widened.. She put the tip of the green quill into her mouth, sucked it for a moment with apparent relish, then placed it upright on the parchment, where it stood balanced on its point, quivering slightly. "Testing...my name is Rita Skeeter, Daily Prophet reporter."

Lynn and Ryan both looked down quickly at the quill. The moment Rita Skeeter had spoken, the green quill had started to scribble, skidding across the parchment:

 _Attractive blonde Rita Skeeter, forty-three, whose savage quill has punctured many inflated reputations..._

"Lovely," said Rita Skeeter, yet again, and she ripped the top piece of parchment off, crumpled it up, and stuffed it into her handbag. Now she leaned toward Lynn and said, "So, Evelyn…the world wants to know, where have you been for the past thirteen years?"

Before the quill could start writing again Ryan reached out and grabbed it. "No enchanted objects. You write what we really say."

"The quill is really harmless and —" Rita sputtered before Ryan interrupted her by snapping the thing in half.

"If it was really an object of value then you can send an invoice to the DWMA." His voice was calm and collected. "Otherwise, I suggest you find something else to write with."

Rita Skeeter sneered at him before digging in her large bag again for something to write with. This time she pulled out a normal colored feather quill like they had seen all the Hogwarts students using. She began writing to prove that it was perfectly fine before staring back at Lynn. "Again, can you tell me where in the world you have been?"

"When I was a year old, I was surrendered to the European representative of the Death Weapon Meister Academy by a relative." Lynn started carefully. "It was reported to Lord Death that I had the ability to become a meister and I was brought to Death City, Nevada where a man named Sid Barrett adopted me along with my brother Black Star. Since then I have lived there and when I was old enough, I applied to the DWMA and was accepted. Death City is my home."

"If you could say anything to the people who gave you up, what would it be?" Rita's eyes glinted cruelly as she wrote Lynn's response down, obviously hoping to get a rise out of the girl.

She smiled her 'media darling' smile at the woman. "I would say 'thank you'. Because of them, I have a family that loves me. I have friends that would lay down their lives for me. My life so far has been so full and happy, I wouldn't want to change it for the world."

Rita Skeeter's smile tightened. Obviously that had not been the answer that the woman had been searching for, so she tried a different angle "Evelyn, can you tell me what made you decide to enter the Triwizard Tournament?"

"Please, call me Lynn. But I have to say, I didn't enter the competition," said Lynn. "I don't know how my name got into the Goblet of Fire. I didn't put it in there, anyone who knows me knows that I don't want anything to do with this competition."

Rita Skeeter raised one heavily penciled eyebrow. "Come now, Lynn, there's no need to be scared of getting into trouble. We all know you shouldn't really have entered at all. But don't worry about that. Our readers love a rebel."

"I didn't enter." She repeated firmly. "I'm here as a representative of the Death Weapon Meister Academy, it would be foolish to risk our reputation over a contest that has no merit in our world."

"How do you feel about the tasks ahead?" said Rita Skeeter, her face somewhat pinched. "Excited? Nervous?"

"I believe that the training I have received at the DWMA will be enough to get me through the tasks safely." Lynn replied professionally, just the way she had rehearsed with Kid. Since she had been selected they had all practiced at night what they would say to the media.

"Champions have died in the past, haven't they?" said Rita Skeeter briskly. "Have you thought about that at all?"

Ryan raised a single brow. "We have been assured that the competition is going to be safer than in the past. Is that not why it's taken so many years to return?"

The quill scratched loudly against the parchment as Rita wrote their responses, a sour look on her face when she realized that they were examining what she was writing. She sat back again and put a forced smile on her face. "Of course, you've looked death in the face before as a meister, haven't you?" said Rita Skeeter. "How would you say that's affected you?"

"Any student in the The Especially Advantaged Talent Class has the job of hunting down kishin and collecting their souls." said Lynn. "We are trained to neutralize threats to the best of our ability, even if that means using lethal force. I wouldn't say that it's affected me very much, though it can get a little messy."

"Do you think that the trauma in your past might have made you keen to prove yourself? To live up to your name? Do you think that perhaps you were tempted to enter the Triwizard Tournament because —"

"I would like to make one thing very clear." Lynn raised her voice somewhat. "I did not know of my reputation in the Wizarding world until a few days after I arrived at Hogwarts. Up until now, I have lived a normal life in Death City with my adopted father and brother. There is no reason for me to 'live up to my name'."

"Can you remember your parents at all?" said Rita Skeeter, talking over her.

"No," said Lynn. "The only parent I've ever known has been Sid Barrett, and he has been an amazing father and role model."

"How do you think they'd feel if they knew you were competing in the Triwizard Tournament? Proud? Worried? Angry?"

Ryan stood up, his hands fisted tightly. "If you insist on asking such personal questions, then this interview is over. Lynn is my meister and my friend. For you to use her dead birth parents to manipulate a reaction out of her is disgusting, and you can quote me on that if you damn well please."

"One last question," Rita smiled tightly. "You have stated that you are students of the Death Weapon Meister Academy. Were you aware that the school condones the killing of witches such as yourself?"

She took a deep breath and stared straight up at Rita Skeeter. "I am not a witch, I'm a meister. It is my duty as one to protect the world and its people from the grip of Madness. The witches that we have sworn to hunt are individuals who have been warped by madness and are a danger. I will create a Death Scythe and that means that I will collect my 100th soul from whatever twisted witch stands in my way."

Before Rita Skeeter could say a word, a shadow was cast over the three of them. She looked up to see the Hogwarts Headmaster standing before them, his bright blue eyes twinkling.

"Dumbledore!" cried Rita Skeeter, with every appearance of delight — but Lynn noticed that her quill and the parchment had suddenly vanished from the box of Magical Mess Remover, and Rita's clawed fingers were hastily snapping shut the clasp of her crocodile-skin bag. "How are you?" she said, standing up and holding out one of her large, mannish hands to Dumbledore. "I hope you saw my piece over the summer about the International Confederation of Wizards' Conference?"

"Enchantingly nasty," said Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling. "I particularly enjoyed your description of me as an obsolete dingbat."

Rita Skeeter didn't look remotely abashed. "I was just making the point that some of your ideas are a little old-fashioned, Dumbledore, and that many wizards in the street —"

"I will be delighted to hear the reasoning behind the rudeness, Rita," said Dumbledore, with a courteous bow and a smile, "but I'm afraid we will have to discuss the matter later. The Weighing of the Wands is about to start, and it cannot take place if one of our champions is hiding in the corner."

Very glad to get away from Rita Skeeter, Lynn hurried back into the room. The other champions were now sitting in chairs near the door, and she sat down quickly next to Maka, looking up at the velvet-covered table, where four of the five judges were now sitting — Professor Karkaroff, Sid Barrett, Mr. Crouch, and Ludo Bagman. Rita Skeeter settled herself down in a corner; Lynn saw her slip the parchment out of her bag again, spread it on her knee, pull out another Quick-Quotes Quill, and place it once more on the parchment.

"May I introduce Mr. Ollivander?" said Dumbledore, taking his place at the judges' table and talking to the champions. "He will be checking your wands to ensure that they are in good condition before the tournament."

"Headmaster Dumbledore?" Maka raised her hand politely. "I was wondering what the purpose of having the DWMA students present is, since we do not use wands?"

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled infuriatingly. "We hoped to examine your weapons and make sure they're in order."

Maka seemed placated but Lynn could hear Soul grumbling about old men thinking he wasn't in good shape. The wand maker stepped forward, his pale eyes gazing over the lot of them. They focused on the Hogwarts champion finally and the man smiled.

"Mister Diggory, could we have you first, please?" said Mr. Ollivander, stepping into the empty space in the middle of the room.

She smiled up at Cedric as he passed her and handed his wand to the man. "Ah, now, this is one of mine, isn't it?" said Mr. Ollivander, with a great deal of enthusiasm, as Cedric handed over his wand. "Yes, I remember it well. Containing a single hair from the tail of a particularly fine male unicorn...must have been seventeen hands; nearly gored me with his horn after I plucked his tail. Twelve and a quarter inches...ash...pleasantly springy. It's in fine condition…You treat it regularly?"

"Polished it last night," said Cedric, grinning.

Mr. Ollivander sent a stream of silver smoke rings across the room from the tip of Cedric's wand, pronounced himself satisfied, and then said, "Mr. Krum, if you please."

Viktor Krum got up and slouched, round-shouldered and duckfooted, toward Mr. Ollivander. He thrust out his wand and stood scowling, with his hands in the pockets of his robes.

"Hmm," said Mr. Ollivander, "this is a Gregorovitch creation, unless I'm much mistaken? A fine wand-maker, though the styling is never quite what I...however..."

He lifted the wand and examined it minutely, turning it over and over before his eyes. "Yes...hornbeam and dragon heartstring?" he shot at Krum, who nodded. "Rather thicker than one usually sees…quite rigid...ten and a quarter inches…Avis!"

The hornbeam wand let off a blast like a gun, and a number of small, twittering birds flew out of the end and through the open  
window into the watery sunlight.

"Good," said Mr. Ollivander, handing Krum back his wand.

"Which leaves our lovely meisters. Miss Albarn, Mister Eater, if you will." Mr. Ollivander motioned for them to step up.

Maka got to her feet with a grin, holding her hand out to catch Soul's scythe form. They heard Rita Skeeter gasp in the corner and the sound of quill scratching on parchment grew louder. Maka slowly approached Mr. Ollivander and held out the scythe with two hands, never once wavering under the heavy weight.

Mr. Ollivander looked the weapon up and down. "Nice and sharp, very well balanced. There's a long reach here and it looks well maintained. Your souls seem very in tune, I assume you have a high level of soul resonance?"

The blonde girl looked taken aback for a moment before she composed herself, looking into his not so cloudy gray eyes for a moment. "Yes sir, we have been partners for many years."

"Yes, I can tell." Mr. Ollivander nodded to himself before stepping back. Maka threw the scythe up in the air where it transformed back into Soul, who simply shoved his hands back in his pockets with a bored expression.

"Now, our youngest champion?" Mr. Ollivander turned towards Lynn. She grabbed Ryan's wrist and he transformed easily. She saw Rita's jaw drop out of the corner of her eye as the woman realized what she had been threatened with earlier.

She had to admit, Ryan's weapon form was truly something out of a medieval horror film. The points on the club shined in the light and if you looked closely you could see faint bloodstains on the wood from where Ryan hadn't been able to transform back in time and get cleaned up. Lynn spun the thing once before pointing it out at Mr. Ollivander.

"Aaaah, yes," said Mr. Ollivander, his pale eyes suddenly gleaming. "Truly a formidable weapon. Not the most traditional, yet deadly. Not as good soul resonance as the previous but reliable enough."

"We haven't been partners for as long." Lynn blurted out defensively. "Soul and Maka are exceptional, but Ryan and I have higher resonance than average."

"Very well." said Mr. Ollivander, stepping away.

"Thank you all," said Dumbledore, standing up at the judges' table. "You may go back to your lessons now — or perhaps it would be quicker just to go down to dinner, as they are about to end —"

Eager to get away from all the scrutiny, Lynn got up to leave, but the man with the black camera jumped up and cleared his throat. "Photos, Dumbledore, photos!" cried Bagman excitedly. "All the judges and champions, what do you think, Rita?"

"Er — yes, let's do those first," said Rita Skeeter, whose eyes were upon Lynn again. "And then perhaps some individual shots."

The photographs took a long time. None of the witches seemed that willing to stand next to her father, and the photographer couldn't get any of them to really get all that close to him. Karkaroff kept twirling his goatee around his finger to give it an extra curl; Krum skulked, half-hidden, at the back of the group. The photographer seemed keenest to get Maka at the front, but Rita Skeeter kept hurrying forward and dragging Lynn into greater prominence. Then she insisted on separate shots of all the champions, the only group photos that she allowed were the DWMA partnerships.

At last, they were free to go. The DWMA students all but ran out of the room, eager to get away from Rita Skeeter and the constant flashing of the camera.

"That Skeeter lady was so not cool." Soul groaned as they walked away. "What was she bothering you about anyways, pipsqueak?"

"Don't even get me started. She kept asking me about my birth parents and why I entered the contest." said Lynn. "She wanted to see me cry so bad and it just wasn't happening. _And_ she wanted to interview me in a broom closet of all places! What kind of psycho bullshit is that?"

Maka frowned slightly. "You _are_ famous here. I've been doing some reading, you're the closest thing to Jesus these people have."

"Over something that happened when I was a baby!" Lynn exclaimed. "I don't even remember what happened, why is it such a big deal? Was this Voldemort guy really so puny that a baby could kill him?"

She felt someone sweep something off her shoulder and she look up at Ryan puzzlingly. Her partner shrugged and shoved his hands back in his pockets. "There was a beetle on your shoulder."

"Oh, thanks Ry." replied Lynn before leaning against him. "You think we could write to your mom to send us some sweaters? It's totally freezing here!"

"I'm sure she will." Ryan chuckled as they continued on down the hallway, not a care in the world.

/

Everything was getting back to normal in the castle when Rita Skeeter's piece about the Triwizard Tournament had been published. What was supposed to be a report on the tournament had turned into a tell-all about Lynn's life, and it was not flattering in the slightest. Skeeter had dedicated the front page to a picture of Lynn and Ryan, though she could tell that they had tried to keep the boy out of frame. Everything had been about Lynn, barely mentioning the Hogwarts and Durmstrang champions while there was not a single mention of Soul and Maka at all.

The article gave her a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach every time that she thought about it. Everything she had told the woman had been warped to make Lynn into some heartless harpy, including some things that she had never said a day in her life!

 _Lynn Potter, a vivacious yet arrogant young lady had much  
_ _to say about her upbringing as a tool of Lord Death and  
_ _of the anti-witch propaganda she has been exposed to  
_ _her entire life. "I don't really care that much about my  
parents, they're __dead after all….Even if they were alive  
they were witches, __that makes them evil according to my  
school….I know that __nothing is going to hurt me during  
_ _the tournament, I'm too_ _strong for that to ever happen….  
_ _I mean, I was strong enough_ _to defeat You-Know-Who,  
even if he was totally puny…."_

But Rita Skeeter had gone even further than transforming her few pauses into long, sickly sentences: She had interviewed other people about her too.

 _Young Lynn has found love at Hogwarts it seems._  
 _She is rarely seen outside the company of one_  
 _Ryan Diaz, a dashingly handsome young man as_  
 _well as her demon weapon partner. She has also_  
 _found a lasting friendship with one Hermione_  
 _Granger, a Gryffindor student and reportedly top_  
 _of her class at Hogwarts. It appears that Lynn_  
 _surrounds herself with only the smart and powerful,_  
 _something that we as viewers much be wary of._

The backlash from the article was immense. Before the article had come to light, a lot of the students at Hogwarts had seemed somewhat eager to be her friend. They smiled at her in the hallways and always helped her out if she managed to get herself lost. But ever since the article, they were cold and whispers followed her wherever she went. It was like nothing that she had ever experienced before. Lynn had always been well liked in Death City, the shining example of obedience to counteract the whirlwind that was her older brother. The negative attention was starting to weigh on her, something that Hermione noticed.

It was the Saturday before the first task began that Hermione approached her, telling her that the students their age at Hogwarts were allowed to visit this town that was just outside of the forrest, Hogsmeade. It honestly didn't take much convincing for Lynn to decide that she wanted out of the castle and it was easy to get Ryan to ditch with her.

It was early that morning that she met up with Hermione at the Great Hall, her and Ryan both bundled up in their warmest clothes. It was the first time that they had gone without their Spartoi uniforms since they had arrived at Hogwarts and it was nice to be back in normal clothes.

"G'morning Hermione!" Lynn called out as they got closer. "I'm so excited about this! I didn't know you all got to do stuff like this!"

Hermione laughed in response. "We can't stay cooped up in the castle all year long, we might go crazy if we had to do that."

"Is that what happened to you?" Ryan teased, dodging Lynn's smack with expertise. "I knew that reading all those dusty books was bad for you."

The witch groaned good naturally but kept on walking. Lynn couldn't help but smile to herself. In the past month that they had known Hermione, the witch had really come out of her shell. Seeing the girl in front of her that was bantering back and forth with Ryan and remembering the witch that had dropped in front of them that first day, it was like they were two different girls.

She shivered slightly as they stepped outdoors and into the freezing air. Lynn had grown up surrounded by the warm Nevada desert and never had dealt with cold on a long term basis. She shivered again and groaned. "Hermione, why is it cold? You're a witch, make it warm."

"You know I can't do that." replied Hermione. "You didn't bring anything warmer to wear?"

"I'm from the desert!" Lynn whined loudly. "All we have is sand and heat, it only gets cold at night and we have a nice, _warm_ apartment to go home to when it does. This is barbaric!"

"It's Scotland." Hermione deadpanned. "Besides, we're almost there so you can stop complaining."

She pouted and kept shivering, smiling widely when Ryan wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. "Kid is going to kill me for this, but he'll kill me more if you get a cold."

"Where is Kid anyway? I tried to find him this morning to invite him but I couldn't find him anywhere." Lynn pouted. "I miss him."

"Liz told me that he had to go deal with something with Lord Death." said Ryan. "It's confidential and all that."

"You don't think it has to do with the witches, do you?" Lynn blurted out, freezing when she realized that Hermione was right next to her. She swore inwardly and turned back to the other girl. "Don't worry, it's the North American witches that we're talking about. You guys kinda keep to yourself."

"Why would he have to deal with them though?" Hermione inquired. "I remember reading about a treaty between your school and the witches in the Daily Prophet."

Ryan snorted. "What happened is we never should have trusted them to begin with."

"Two weeks after the treaty was made, a team of one star meisters and weapons were slaughtered." Lynn gritted out. "They'd wandered too close to a coven of the Witch Order. The witches came after them in their sleep and killed every last one of them. When Lord Death came to Mabaa about it, she just laughed and said we were fools to believe a witch's word."

"That's terrible!" gasped Hermione. "Why would they do that?"

"They're evil. That's why the DWMA has sworn to defeat them. We won't let them take another life before its time."

Hermione went quiet after that, staring at the ground. The three of them continued their way to Hogsmeade in was only a few minutes later that they finally reached the town, Lynn gasping in delight as she took it in. Hogsmeade looked like a Christmas card; the little thatched cottages and shops were all covered in a light layer of snow and smoke puffing quietly out of little chimneys.

Lynn sighed in happiness and cuddled closer to Ryan's side. "So, what's the best place to go here?"

"We could go to Honeydukes?" Hermione suggested slowly, wincing at the way that the pairs eyes lit up. She grabbed Hermione by the arm and began marching them towards the colorful looking shop. Inside was like a dream.

There were shelves upon shelves of the most succulent-looking sweets imaginable. Creamy chunks of nougat, shimmering pink squares of coconut ice, fat, honey-colored toffees; hundreds of different kinds of chocolate in neat rows; there was a large barrel of Every Flavor Beans, and another of Fizzing Whizbees, the levitating sherbert balls that Lynn had heard students talking about; along yet another wall were "Special Effects" sweets: Drooble's Best Blowing Gum (which filled a room with bluebell-colored bubbles that refused to pop for days), the strange, splintery Toothflossing Stringmints, tiny black Pepper Imps ("breathe fire for your friends!"), Ice Mice ("hear your teeth chatter and squeak!"), peppermint creams shaped like toads ("hop realistically in the stomach!"), fragile sugar-spun quills, and exploding bonbons.

Lynn looked around with wide eyes. "This is so cool."

"Dude, do you think they actually have _every_ flavor jelly beans?" said Ryan as he tossed a pack in the air. "I bet I could get 'Star to eat a vomit one."

The two of them laughed loudly and continued to explore the rest of the place. No matter where they went there was some kind of crazy sweet or something that was guaranteed to make them laugh. There was a moment where Hermione nearly died of embarrassment when Lynn decided to chase Ryan around the room with a blood pop threatening to turn him into a vampire.

It took a good half hour for them to decide what all they wanted and hand over the moony that had been converted from US dollars ahead of time. The trio left Honeydukes with their arms full and their cheeks flushed pink from laughter. Lynn's good mood vanished almost instantly when she saw Rita Skeeter and her photographer friend leaving the bar just down the street. She grabbed Hermione and Ryan and pulled them into the nearest alley, holding her breath until the woman passed.

When they were gone, Lynn said, "She's staying in the village. I bet she's coming to watch the first task."

Her stomach dropped when she said that. It finally hit her that the first task was only a few days away and she wasn't prepared whatsoever. Hermione saw the look on her face and touched her arm, smiling when they made eye contact. "Why don't we go and have a butterbeer in the Three Broomsticks, it's a bit cold, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Lynn nodded. "Let's do that."

The Three Broomsticks was packed, mainly with Hogwarts students enjoying their free afternoon, but also with a variety of magical people Lynn never seen before. They all looked somewhat odd, as if they could be human but didn't have the skills to hide themselves the way that the European witches did.

It was somewhat awkward getting through the crowd as people tended to scowl the second that they realized it was her pushing past them. Ryan and Lynn edged slowly toward a spare table in the corner while Hermione went to buy drinks. While they were sitting there she spotted the group of redheads again, the younger boy and the twins. They were sitting with two of the other Gryffindors her age and an older boy with braids in his hair.

Hermione joined them a moment later and handed them both a frothing drink. Lynn sniffed it cautiously and wrinkled her nose. "Does this have, um," Lynn lowered her voice. " _alcohol_ in it?"

"I think there's a little, not enough to get you knackered unless you're really going at it." Hermione shrugged and took a long sip of her own Butterbeer.

"They're okay with you drinking here?" Ryan's eyebrows were so high that they might have touched the warm hat he was wearing. "Isn't that illegal?"

"It's really not a big deal." She laughed. "Most of us have a glass of wine with dinner at home by our age."

Ryan leaned back and whistled lowly before taking a swig of the drink. "Damn. I think the only alcohol we've really had was that tequila we stole from Nygus and that stuff made me want to die."

"Ugh, don't even remind me." Lynn groaned, taking a sip of her Butterbeer. "Dad made me run the DWMA stairs ten times the next day to teach me a lesson."

Hermione just laughed at them. "We spent last summer in France and I met a few Beauxbatons girls when we toured the school. They convinced me to go dancing with them, and well, I don't think I'll ever look at a martini the same way!"

"I don't see why you don't go there." said Lynn. "Every time you mention it, you just seem happier. It sounds like people were actually nice to you there."

"It's…complicated." Hermione sighed. "I really would love to go there, but I'm afraid. Everyone that I met seemed so poised and confident, and it's so far away from home. I wouldn't be able to come back for hols or anything. Every moment would be spent at that school. And what if things are just as bad there? They seemed really nice but what if they decide they don't like me?"

Lynn reached out and grabbed Hermione's hand comfortingly. "Every choice has its risks. I mean, I was scared as hell to come here but I did and I met you because of it. Even if everything else goes crazy, I have at least one good thing."

"My grandpa always used to tell me, if it excites you and scares the shit out of you at the same time then you should probably do it." said Ryan. "It's good advice, I followed it and ended up partnered with this one."

"So you think that I should?" asked Hermione.

"We can't tell you that," Lynn smiled. "It's a choice that you're going to have to make. But I do think it's a really good idea."

Hermione smiled and straightened up. "I think I should write Madame Maxime to see if I'm still welcome."

The meister all but threw herself across the bar table, wrapping her arms around Hermione's neck. "Oh, I'm so happy for you!"

"I'm just glad I have you two supporting me." Hermione smiled shyly. "So, Lynn, what do you think the first task is going to be?"

"Ugh, those crazy idiots will probably make me slay a dragon." groaned Lynn. "It's supposed to test our 'daring' and 'courage in the face of the unknown' like that's going to really help us figure out how to prepare. All I have is Ryan and no offense, but he's only really that useful if I can get up close and bash the brains out of my opponent."

Her partner pouted to himself but nodded. "Lynn and I are a close range, ground attack team. It would really help if we just had a clue because we're honestly the weakest link in this thing. I mean, Soul and Maka are totally covered because Soul's a Death Scythe and Maka has a freakin' grigori soul. They can fly, Hermione."

"That's not good…" Hermione's mouth turned down at the corners. "I'm sure you'll figure it out.."

"I hope so." Lynn sighed. She leaned back and looked around the bar at all the people who would be watching her risk her life in only a few short days. This tournament, it was the real deal and it was finally starting to sink in. "I really do.

* * *

 **I actually did so much research to find out if there is alcohol in Butterbeer. According to the HP wikia, it does seem to cause a slight feeling of intoxication after a couple so that's what we're sticking to :)**

 **Please review and let me know what you think! I'm trying to update every Sunday, but I think next week might be a little late. I'm in the process of moving and I just don't know how long it's going to take, especially with the issues I'm having with my old landlord :(**


	4. Chapter 4

Lynn collapsed on the living room couch later that night, rubbing her sore muscles. They had returned from Hogsmeade only to find her dad waiting for them with a more grim look than usual on his face. What had followed had been the most intense training session that she had ever experienced. Not only had her father made them push their physical limits, he had made them practice their soul resonance and her own soul perception until it felt like her head would explode.

"I feel like my bones are jello." Ryan groaned as he plopped down next to her. "Your dad is insane."

She snorted to herself. "Tell me about it. Why does it even matter if we have Soul Crusher down perfectly? We've never even been able to use it during battle."

Ryan moved to lay across her lap, her fingers automatically threading through his hair. She combed through it with a practiced ease that had only come from many nights spent in a similar position. It was the best way that they could unwind after a long mission or practice. The repetitive motion helped unlock Lynn's fingers from where they had been gripped on the club and it just helped Ryan sleep better.

"Are you nervous about the first task?" Ryan murmured. "You seem more tense than usual."

"I just feel that Dad knows something about it and he isn't telling. You know he has that sense of fair play." Lynn replied. "Why do you think he was so worried about my soul perception anyways? We haven't run into a single kishin in the month that we've been here."

"I know, we're going to go soft." He joked. "Maybe ole' Sid was trying to give you a hint."

"About what? I doubt there's anything that these witches have that would even show up with soul perception."

He shrugged and relaxed more into her lap. "Eh, it's worth a try."

"Whatever, I'll try it one more time." Lynn rolled her eyes at him. With a deep breath, she leaned her head back against the sofa and tried to push through he pounding in her head to get to her soul perception. Despite the pain that was present it felt like she was electrified in a way. Instead of feeling like she was struggling against the waves of her own soul, she felt as if it was propelling her forward.

Her fingers clenched tightly in Ryan's hair as she made contact with the little ball of power. Lynn felt her eyes snap open but what she was seeing was so much _more_ than what was just in the room. Hundreds of bright green souls were inside the castle, something that she had never seen before.

Shouldn't their souls be purple like the other witches?

The view continued on outside of the castle and into the creepy forest that they had all been warned about. Lynn frowned when she noticed a group of green souls with a set of stranger, larger souls. There were four of the weird souls total and it looked like they were struggling against the witches.

She shot up with a jolt, knocking Ryan to the floor. "Ry, the witches have _something_ hidden in the woods! They're struggling, we have to go help them!"

Lynn immediately began tugging at his arm, trying to get him off of the ground while he blinked in confusion. She shrieked in frustration and hit him with a pillow, stopping when she heard a deep chuckle sound from the entrance of the room.

Standing there was Soul and Maka, dressed all in black. Maka walked up to her and pulled her of of her partner, setting the younger girl back on the couch. "No need to worry about that, we already checked it out."

"What is it? Are they okay? Do we need to contact Lord Death?" The words spilled out of Lynn's mouth at a million miles a minute.

Soul laughed again and shook his head. "It's fine, they're our challenge for the first task?"

"Well?" Ryan demanded from where he was on the ground. "Are you going to tell us what it is?"

"Dragons." The older weapon laughed. "They actually have us fighting against dragons."

Maka pulled Soul over to the cushy love seat across from them and settled herself in his lap comfortably. "We couldn't get too close because of the fire, but I managed to fly close enough to hear some of the workers. They have dragon eggs, so I think we're going to have to steal something from the dragon's nest. Very medieval fairy tale if you ask me."

"I jinxed us." Lynn groaned. "I literally joked about that this afternoon. Oh my god, how are we gong to fight dragons?"

The older girl shrugged. "Our plan is just to fly around the dragon and get whatever we need before it can catch us. Do you have any idea what you're going to do?"

"We just found out a minute ago!" shrieked Lynn hysterically. "We're close range fighters that operate on lethal force! In what world is that going to translate to 'outsmart a damn dragon'!"

Ryan propped himself up on his shoulders, looking decidedly unbothered by the whole thing. It was only years of partnership that let Lynn noticed how tight his mouth was, the heavy set of his brows. "What if we used Soul Crusher?"

"That would work if you can hit to incapacitate instead of kill." Maka smiled encouragingly.

It was Soul that laughed and shook his head in disagreement. "No offense, but you two don't have enough experience to control it that well. Remember when we first started using Witch-Hunt?"

The older meister frowned. "He has a point…How long have you been able to hold it so far?"

"If we're stationary, we have a good ten minutes. Any movement cuts it down to about three minutes before it sputters out." Lynn admitted. "Add in the stress of fighting a dragon, we'd only have about a minute to act."

"There you go." Soul replied. "We've got two days until the first task. Spend those days making sure that one minute is the best damn minute that you've got. Unless you like being barbecued."

Maka hit Soul on the head with a book before anyone could even blink. The pair dissolved into a loud and obnoxious sounding argument, leaving the two younger students to brood. Even though she didn't want to admit it, Soul was actually knew what he was talking about when it came to resonance. His and Maka's was somewhat of a legend at the DWMA with some people saying that they could even read each other's minds outside of battle.

Soul Crusher was the way to go, Lynn decided. If she and Ryan could really just get it down then they would be able to kill the dragon if not severely injuring it. After all, they weren't in this tournament to win by any means. If she ended up in last place for every task then it was no big deal.

"C'mon Ry, let's get some sleep." said Lynn, stretching as she stood up. "We can start on everything in the morning."

Her weapon nodded and lifted himself off the ground, turning back to the older pair when he reached the door of their room. "By the way, do you guys know where the hell 'Star is? I was looking for him yesterday and I haven't seen him or Tsubaki."

The others at least had the decency to look guilty. "I thought he would have told you two, especially Lynn…" Maka trailed off. "Lord Death reassigned them to a recon mission in the Pacific Northwest. There's a coven of witches that has been causing a lot of trouble in the area. This could be their opportunity to turn Tsubaki into a Death Scythe."

Lynn felt her heart ache and her eyes water. "He just left? Without saying goodbye?"

"I'm sure he meant well by it." Maka reassured her. "He's your brother, he probably didn't want you to worry too much."

"Because disappearing in a castle full of witches wouldn't make me worry?" snapped Lynn. "Black Star is a bigger idiot than I thought he was."

Before anyone could respond, she stormed into the room and slammed the door shut before throwing herself on her bed. The tears began to flow as everything finally hit her. She had two days to master a technique that was her only chance at survival. Kid was most likely dealing with Mabaa herself at this very moment. Her big brother was on some plane to go fight a group of witches by himself, and he hadn't had the courage to face her and tell her goodbye.

It was like this every time that something dangerous went down. They all kept her out of the loop until the last moment! As if she wasn't a completely competent E.A.T. student on her own! They had started fighting Medusa at her age, why did they keep looking at her like she was some kind of child?

The door creaked open behind her but she stubbornly kept her face pressed into the pillow. A familiar weight settled onto the bed before Ryan started to gently rub her arm. "It's okay, just let it all out." He murmured.

He let out an 'oof!' when Lynn launched herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck while she sobbed. Ryan tentatively hugged her back and whispered reassuring words in her ear. It took a good fifteen minutes before she finally started to calm down but he was reluctant to let her go. Having his partner in his arms like that, soft yet strong, was such a _right_ feeling. He felt his heart jump into his throat when she pulled away to look up at him. If he leaned down just a little more their lips would be touching just so. With an large amount of willpower, he leaned back and put some distance between them.

"I'm so lucky to have you." Lynn's smile was watery but genuine. "How did I manage to find a partner as good as you?"

"Hmm," He hummed. "I seem to remember some scrawny girl with uneven pigtails storming up to me and demanding that I let her try to wield me. What a surprise it was when that same scrawny kid was the only one that had ever been able to pick me up. Seriously, what was with the pigtails?"

"I was going through a phase." Lynn pouted.

Ryan lifted one eyebrow. "Lynn, you still practically worship Maka."

"But it wasn't my fault!" She whined back. "Maka literally lived two houses down and she was so cool and smart, I just wanted her to think that I was cool too. It's like when you tried to buzz your hair off so you looked like Alexander."

"Alex is still the coolest person ever," Ryan scoffed. "He's my brother, it's in the Diaz blood to be charming and handsome beyond belief!"

"Oh, Ry," Lynn looked up at him sadly. "Why didn't you tell me you were adopted too?"

His jaw dropped open in insult when she started giggling. That little…!

"Oh, you're going to regret that." He swore, raising his hands like talons. Lynn shrieked in fear when she realized what was coming but she was too late. Ryan had her pinned down to the bed, tickling her sides like there was no tomorrow. Huge guffaws spilled out from the girl as her attempts to get him to stop seemed futile.

"Uncle!" Lynn managed to squeak out. "Uncle! Uncle!"

Ryan leaned back with a satisfied smirk. "That'll show you to question my good looks and charm."

"Whatever, weirdo." She grinned at him before pushing on his chest to get him to roll off of her. "I'm going to shower and go to sleep, and so should you. We've got a long 48 hours ahead of us."

He watched her as she practically pranced into the bathroom, her long black hair a giant mess as usual. When the door shut behind her he buried his hands in his face and groaned. "Real smooth, Diaz, why not fall in love with your partner? It's not like she's dating the freakin' son of Death."

The boy stripped and pulled on his pajamas quickly, sliding into bed. He tried his best to close his eyes and sleep but his mind could not stop racing. It had been like that for the past year. Ever since they had moved out of the dorms and into their apartment, he had started to see Lynn in a different light. All of a sudden she wasn't his bratty partner but a really cute girl with a smile that gave him butterflies in his stomach.

But they were partners and he knew that it would never work out. Soul and Maka were an exception to the rule, they had managed to fall in love and it only made their partnership stronger instead of tearing it apart like teen love usually did. Still, he had been willing to risk it for Lynn. She was everything that he had ever dreamed of. Ryan had finally worked up the courage to ask her on a real date when he had seen her and Kid together. Their hands were locked and Lynn had the happiest look on her face. He knew that he wouldn't ever be able to break that up, not when she looked like that.

Love was love and if that meant letting her be happy with someone else, then so be it.

Ryan heard the door creak open and the sound of Lynn getting in her bed across from him. After a few minutes of shuffling around she finally settled with a deep sigh. She called out to him. "Goodnight Ry."

"G'night." He murmured back, shoving his face into his pillow. Tomorrow was a new day and all he needed to worry about was protecting Lynn. Her life was the most important thing in this tournament.

/

Ice cold water hit her face with a splash, jolting Lynn awake. She shrieked and rolled out of her bed onto the hard stone floor with a thud. She looked up to see her dad splashing Ryan with a similar bucket of water. Her partner jumped up with a shout, swinging with a transformed fist.

Sid grabbed the smaller boy by the wrist and effortlessly flipped him onto the floor. He laughed loudly at the boy's look on confusion. "Nice reflexes there, son. Get dressed, we have a lot to work on."

"Daaaaad, do we have to?" Lynn whined but obeyed, grabbing her training clothes. "The lake is still dark, it can't be later than 6."

"Early to bed, early to rise —"

"Makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise." She rolled her eyes. "I know Dad, but Benjamin Franklin didn't live his life fighting kishin so I think the circumstances are a little different."

All her father did was stare at her blankly until she sighed in defeat. "We'll be out in ten minutes, okay? Ryan still needs to shower."

The door shut behind him with a resounding thud as the two jumped into action. They rushed into the bathroom with their clothes in hand, Ryan jumping into the shower before she could say anything else to him. Lynn hurriedly put in her contacts and brushed her teeth before throwing her messy hair into a bun on the top of her head. While her partner was still in the shower she threw on her tank top and shorts before running back into their bedroom.

Lynn ruffled through her bag before pulling out her wrappings. She carefully wrapped her fingers and hands, all the way up to just below her elbows. Something told her that today was going to be especially brutal and she couldn't risk any blisters this close to the first task.

She was just finishing up tying her sneakers when Ryan sprinted out of the bathroom fully dressed except for his shoes, his hair dripping water where he was. Her partner shook his head like a dog to get some f the water out, pulling a squeal from her. "You aren't a dog!"

"Woof." Was his deadpan reply as he shoved his sneakers on, trying to tie them with one had as he shoved his headband on. The pair ran out of their room to where her dad was waiting for them in front of the fireplace.

"So, what's the plan?" Lynn smiled cutely at her father hoping that he would go easy on them.

"Five laps around the castle," He replied gruffly. She relaxed somewhat, that was easy enough. "With Diaz transformed and holding him over your head."

Her jaw dropped. "Whaa?"

"How long do we have, sir?" Ryan all but whimpered when he saw the man's smile. "Three hours."

"Dad, there's no way we can do that!" She protested.

Her father simply shrugged. "You better get moving then."

She resisted the urge to curse as she and Ryan bolted out of their living quarters. Luckily there were very few people in the hallways and the ones that were there seemed occupied in their own business. They finally made their way outside a few minutes later, shuffling already. "Well," Lynn grinned. "Let's get this shit done."

Ryan took her offered hand and transformed effortlessly. She cracked her neck loudly before lifting him above her head with both hands and taking off in a steady jog. If she was being honest, it wasn't that bad of a run. The sun was rising behind him as she made her way around, her breath fogging up in the cool air. It would have been quite chilly but jogging was keeping her warm enough at the moment, unlike the blazing Nevada sun. She would much rather do this than ever do laps around the DWMA.

Everything was quiet too. She could hear the birds chirping and the gentle sound of the waves lapping on the shore of the Great Lake. Lynn could really see herself loving this place if it hadn't been for the whole thing with the tournament. Scotland was beautiful and she had made a wonderful friend while she was there too.

For the first two laps around the castle she allowed herself to be lost in her thoughts. It was the beginning of the third lap that the growing ache in her arms began to make its presence known. Ryan started to feel heavier in her arms and she was feeling the burn in her lungs.

"You've got this." Ryan's voice sounded from above her. "Only three more left and then he'll probably have us working on resonance. This is the easy part!"

"Easy for you to say." Lynn grumbled. "You're not the one running."

"Hey, it's hard to hold weapon form sometimes!" said Ryan. "It's like flexing your entire body but for three hours straight."

Lynn had a retort on the top of her tongue when a giggle sounded from behind her. She almost dropped when she peeked and saw Maka running behind her with Soul's weapon form held high above her head. "Sid have you two doing this too?"

She laughed breathily. "Yeah, he's being such a buzzkill. Did he throw water on you guys too?"

The older meister's face tinted pink. "He tried, but um, we were already awake."

"Ooo, was Maka doing something _naughty_?" Lynn waggled her eyebrows playfully as Maka blushed harder. "Does this mean Dad's going to give me The Talk again?"

"It wasn't that bad!" Maka blurted out. "We were just getting dressed you little pervert."

"Blame Ryan for that." said Lynn, pulling loud protests from her weapon. "Oh look, he's awake!"

He mumbled something to himself but wisely chose to stay silent. The two girls ran next to each other quietly, only the sound of their breathing filling the air between them. They continued on like that for another two laps, grinning brightly when they realized that they were on their last one.

"Race you!" Maka laughed and took off sprinting, leaving Lynn in the dust.

Lynn cursed loudly and went running after the other meister, her shorter legs working overtime to catch up. Even though she was exhausted it helped having some kind of competition. Instead of focusing on the pain that she was feeling, she was putting all of her energy towards being faster than Maka.

She bit back a joyous laugh as she finally caught up to the older meister. They were running neck and and neck with the finish line quickly approaching. Lynn pumped her legs as fast as she could, her competitive streak showing. They were almost there, it was just a few more feet when she felt herself trip over an uneven patch of grass. She went skidding across the ground ad Ryan went flying.

"Ew." Lynn spat a mouthful of grass and mud out. "I need to take like, four showers now."

Maka simply laughed and held out a hand to help her up while Soul was busy laughing at their situation. She scowled over at the older weapon but all that did was make him laugh even more. "You should've seen your face! Ah, priceless."

"C'mon man, she's just a bit clumsy." said Ryan.

She tried her best to swipe some of the grass and mud off to no avail, pouting up at the others. "I wonder if Dad will let me change?"

Ryan snorted. "He'll probably say that it's character building."

The four of them managed to drag themselves back to the dungeons where Sid was waiting, glaring at anyone who dared to snicker at Lynn's mud covered body. When they got back to their room no one was surprised to see that Sid was leaning against the couch holding a timer. He clicked it firmly and looked up at them. "Two hours and fifty-seven minutes. That's cutting it a little too close."

Lynn resisted the urge to drop to the floor in frustration. "Dad, don't you mean 'good job'?"

"No." Sid deadpanned. "You go get cleaned up and meet me back here in twenty. Soul, Maka, we need to talk about your strategy."

The older two approached him while Lynn and Ryan retreated to their room. She grabbed more workout clothes and rushed into the bathroom, eager to get the slowly drying mud off of her body. The water in the shower was still cold when she jumped in but she couldn't find herself to care as it soothed the ache in her muscles. She cleaned herself up quickly and set to getting dressed again before meeting her partner in their bedroom. Ryan was stretched out on his bed reading an obnoxiously thick book, so wrapped up in it hat he didn't even notice her approaching.

She plopped down on the twin bed next to him, leaning her head on his shoulder. "Whatcha reading, Ry?"

" _Hogwarts: A History_." replied Ryan. "Hermione told me that it's her favorite book so I figured that it was at least worth the read. It's a little dry but it honestly has a lot of useful information in it. You know that they can't even use their teleport powers at the school? There's some weird forcefield that stops them."

"Huh, I wonder if that stops regular witches?" Lynn wondered out loud. "If it did, we could use it to trap the witches that manage to get into Death City."

"Lord Death could probably figure it out." He replied before shutting the book. "C'mon, we need to see your dad before he comes to get us himself."

She groaned but walked out with her partner anyways. As she looked over to where her father was seriously talking with the other two meisters, she felt a curl of dread form in the pit of her stomach. This was going to be a long day.

/

It was hours later when Lynn finally dropped Ryan to the ground with a thud, her partner groaning as he transformed out of his weapon form. They had been working on Soul Crusher for the last four hours and it seemed like there was no end in sight. On the other side of the lake she could see Maka zooming between trees on Soul while dodging everything that Sid threw at them. It was more of a test of their endurance than it was their actual skill level.

Her partner walked up behind her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "Hey, we're going to get this down. It just needs a bit more practice."

"But what if we can't?" murmured Lynn. "We'll be stuck facing a dragon with nothing there to save us. We could _die_ Ryan, this is serious."

"Lynn, we risk our lives every time that we go after a kishin. What makes this so different?"

She bit her lip worriedly. "We know how to fight kishin and what we need to do to take them down."

"Then treat the dragon like a kishin." Ryan replied. "It's just a big, nasty kishin with fire powers. How would you go at that?"

Lynn leaned her head against his shoulder and thought for a moment. "We'd need to stop it from flying first, so I'd try to break the wings at the joint. It breathes fire so if we stay behind it then we should be safer. After that it would be as simple as getting a good enough hit to shatter the skull and that's it. But what if we lose points for hurting it?"

"I don't give a damn about points, I care about us surviving this thing." He argued back. "Now pick me back up and let's do this thing."

She felt him transform next to her and caught him out of sheer habit. His face appeared on the metal of the club, broken up by the spikes around it. "I believe in us Lynn, you have to believe too for this to work."

Lynn screwed her eyes shut and forced herself to drown out everything in the world around her for just a second before her eyes snapped back open, the bright green blazing with determination.

"Soul resonance." She said quietly, as if speaking louder would ruin it.

She could see it in her mind's eye, her own green soul coming together to merge with his orange one. For a moment it felt like she was in his mind before the feeling faded and she focused in on the task at hand. She gripped the club with two hands and breathed deeply. It felt like time slowed down, only the sound of her own breathing filling the air. "Soul Crusher!"

The club in her hands immediately grew to be twice the size of Lynn, the metal turning into a shimmering green-blue color. It was large but somehow it was easy for her to hold as she ran at the targets her father had set up. With a shout she swung the weapon through all of them, easily destroying everything in her path. It was at that moment that the form would usually disappear and leave her disappointed, but for some reason it stayed strong.

Elation filled her as she went after the different sets of targets, her determination growing with each successful swing. It was after they had destroyed the last target that she finally released their soul resonance and Ryan transformed back. Her partner wrapped her in a giant bear hug as she squealed in excitement. "Ryan, we did it! We really did it!"

"I told you we could." He smiled down at her with a strange look in his eyes for a moment before pulling away quickly. Lynn ignored the pang of disappointment before she hugged him once more.

They were still hugging when she heard a giggle from above her, looking up to see Maka calmly sitting on Soul's floating weapon form. "Good job guys! We watched the whole thing, it was awesome."

"Thanks Maka!" She grinned. "It was easier than I thought it would be though!"

"It just takes one time for it to really click before you can use it in battle." Maka jumped off of Soul and landed softly on both her feet, the scythe weapon transforming pack right after her. "We must have tried to use Witch Hunter a thousand times before it finally clicked. After that, it just gets easier with every use."

Soul nodded in agreement. "Just wait 'til you start on the harder stuff, it's pretty cool."

Excitement rushed through her at his statement. For Soul to describe something as cool meant that it had to be the best thing that they would ever do. He didn't assign that term to things lightly. "Was my dad watching?"

"He looked really proud." Maka admitted. "It _was_ impressive, after all."

"That's because I am proud, that's the kind of meister I raised her to be." Sid said from where he walked up behind them. "Now that you can do it, I want you to keep practicing. We have one more day until the first task."

She resisted the urge to whine in front of everyone. "We can't take a little break?"

He looked at her with blank white eyes, the eyes that had been there since he died four years earlier. "It would be foolish to give up when you are doing so well."

"I understand." Lynn sighed. "We'll get back to it."

Her father nodded and looked over at Soul and Maka, who simply nodded and began to follow him as he walked towards the forest. Lynn tightened the wrappings on her hands before smiling up at Ryan. Without a single word he transformed again and they began the process of soul resonance all over again. If they were going to survive this tournament, it was going to take a lot of hard work and persistence.

"Soul resonance."

/

They trained hard for that entire day and the whole next day, stopping early enough to get a good nights rest to keep away some of the nerves of competing. It was the morning of the first task and there was still no sign of Kid and his partners yet, and she had yet to hear a single thing from Black Star. All in all, it made for a very stressful environment.

Time was passing oddly. It seemed like she would blink and two hours would have passed, each minute bringing her closer to the moment when it would be just her and her partner standing in front of a dragon. She was sitting in the Great Hall with Hermione and Ryan determined to get some food in her stomach before it was time for the task.

It seemed like all eyes were on the champions at that moment. they had each been assigned a uniform of sorts to compete in. All of the DWMA students were dressed in a combination of black and gray, the Durmstrang champion in red, and the Hogwarts in the black and yellow of his house. Lynn must have fussed with her clothes a million times that day, making sure that her wrappings were tight enough and that her hair was french braided out of her face and down her back. It had taken a bit of fighting to allow Maka and her's usual steel toed boots and hand protection, but it had been a battle they had won.

Hermione was chattering away nervously when Professor McGonagall came hurrying up to them. "Miss Potter, the champions have to come down onto the grounds now...You have to get ready for your first task."

"It's Potter-Barrett." Lynn corrected automatically before the words really hit her. "Oh, yeah, we should get going then."

"Good luck, Lynn," Hermione whispered. "You'll be fine!"

"Yeah," said Lynn tightly. She and Ryan left the Great Hall with Professor McGonagall, who seemed oddly tense about the whole thing. As she walked them down the stone steps and out into the cold November afternoon, she put her hand on her shoulder.

"Now, don't panic," McGonagall said, "just keep a cool head….We've got wizards standing by to control the situation if it gets out of hand...The main thing is just to do your best."

"Thank you?" Lynn replied, confused as to why this woman cared so much. "Ryan and I have been training with my dad for the past couple of days, I think we'll be ready for whatever they throw at us."

McGonagall was leading them toward the place where Lynn had seen the dragon's souls, around the edge of the forest, but when they approached the clump of trees behind which the enclosure would be clearly visible, Lynn saw that a tent had been erected, its entrance facing them, screening the dragons from view.

"You're to go in here with the other champions," said Professor McGonagall, in a rather shaky sort of voice, "and wait for your turn. Mr. Bagman is in there...he'll be telling you the — the procedure...Good luck."

"Thanks," said Lynn, in a flat, distant voice. She left them at the entrance of the tent. Lynn gripped Ryan's wrist tightly and walked into the tent.

Soul and Maka were sitting in a corner on a set low wooden stools. Their foreheads were practically touching as they whispered to each other, their hands intertwined tightly. Viktor Krum looked even surlier than usual, which Lynn supposed was his way of showing nerves. Cedric was pacing up and down.

She and Ryan went to stand over where their friends were when Bagman stepped in front of them "Lynn! Good-o!" said Bagman happily, looking around at him. "Come in, come in, make yourself at home!"

"Well, now we're all here — time to fill you in!" said Bagman brightly. "When the audience has assembled, I'm going to be offering each of you this bag" — he held up a small sack of purple silk and shook it at them — "from which you will each select a small model of the thing you are about to face! There are different — er — varieties, you see. And I have to tell you something else too...ah, yes…your task is to collect the golden egg!"

Lynn glanced around. Cedric had nodded once, to show that he understood Bagman's words, and then started pacing around the tent again; he looked slightly green. Krum hadn't reacted at all. Perhaps he thought he might be sick if he opened his mouth; that was certainly how Lynn felt. But he, at least, had volunteered for this….

Soul and Maka motioned for them to join them, the sound of hundreds of pairs of feet were passing over the tent. As they walked over, Lynn could hear them all laughing and talking excitedly about the task that was about to take place. Of course, it was just entertainment for them. They weren't about to risk their lives.

"We were right, it's all about retrieval." Maka said hurriedly. "Just get in, get the egg, and get the heck out of there."

"That's the plan." Ryan smiled back at her. "No one's going to be the hero today."

And then — it seemed like about a second later to Lynn — Bagman was calling them to go stand around him. They gathered in a circle where he was opening the neck of the purple silk sack.

"Ladies first," he said, offering it to Maka.

She put a gloved hand inside the bag and drew out a tiny, perfect model of a dragon — a Welsh Green as Bagman declared it. It had the number two around its neck. They did not seem worried however, simply moving closer to each other.

The same held true for Krum. He pulled out the scarlet Chinese Fireball. It had a number three around its neck. He didn't even blink, just sat back down and stared at the ground. Cedric put his hand into the bag, and out came the blueish-gray Swedish Short-Snout, the number one tied around its neck.

She felt a sense of dread as she put her hand into the silk bag, resisting the urge to flinch as her fingers wrapped around a small, spiky object. The tiny dragon had the number four around its neck.

"The Hungarian Horntail!" Bagman proclaimed, "Well, there you are! You have each pulled out the dragon you will face, and the numbers refer to the order in which you are to take on the dragons, do you see? Now, I'm going to have to leave you in a moment, because I'm commentating. Mr. Diggory, you're first, just go out into the enclosure when you hear a whistle, all right? Now…Lynn...could I have a quick word? Outside?"

"Not a chance." She automatically took a step back. "I don't leave myself alone with strange men who like to manhandle teenage girls."

Bagman had an offended look on his face but was wise enough not to comment again. He disappeared from the tent to go do Death knows what, and Lynn was perfectly fine with that. She settled herself on the wall of the tent next to Ryan, closing her eyes to concentrate.

A minute passed before she heard someone hissing her name, someone familiar. "Psst, Lynn!" Kid poked his head in, much to her delight. "Come out here."

She rushed out of the tent and threw herself into her boyfriend's arms, kissing him soundly. "Kid, where have you been?"

"I was on a mission for Father, I'm sorry that I could not say goodbye." Kid admitted. "I wanted to come wish you good luck."

She kissed him once more, more passionately. "I'm so nervous, I think I might puke."

"I know that you will succeed, you're a talented meister." He kissed her again. "I will not let anything bad happen to you."

Lynn leaned in to kiss his cheek when she jumped, the loud sound of the whistle startling her. She pulled away from Kid sadly. "I've got to go, it's starting. I'll find you after."

They hugged tightly before Lynn walked back into the tent just as Cedric was leaving, looking greener than ever. She wished that she knew him well enough to tell him good luck, but all she managed was a nod in his direction. Lynn walked back in to seat herself with Soul, Maka, and Ryan. Krum was on the opposite side of the tent looking tense. Seconds later, they heard the roar of the crowd, which meant Cedric had entered the enclosure and was now face-to-face with the living counterpart of his model….

It was worse than Lynn could ever have imagined, sitting there and listening. The crowd screamed...yelled...gasped like a single many-headed entity, as Cedric did whatever he was doing to get past the Swedish Short-Snout. Krum was still staring at the ground. Soul and Maka had now taken to whispering amongst themselves again. Ryan had his arm wrapped around her shoulder and was holding her tight as they listened in.

Bagman's commentary made everything much, much worse...Horrible pictures formed in Lynn's mind as she heard: "Oooh, narrow miss there, very narrow"..."He's taking risks, this one!"..."Clever move — pity it didn't work!"

And then, after about fifteen minutes, Lynn heard the deafening roar that could mean only one thing: Cedric had gotten past his dragon and captured the golden egg. "Very good indeed!" Bagman was shouting. "And now the marks from the judges!"

But he didn't shout out the marks; Lynn supposed the judges were holding them up and showing them to the crowd. "One down, three to go!" Bagman yelled as the whistle blew again. "Miss, if you please!"

Maka seemed to be made of steel as she stood and caught Soul's scythe form with grace. She smiled brightly down at Lynn and Ryan before exciting the tent with her head held high. Lynn could hear the audience gasp as she walked out, and again when they must have taken flight.

Bagman was losing his mind with the commentary. "This is amazing, never before have we seen a scythe fly!"…."These two are quite the pair, oh, it looks like she's got it! In record time too!"

Lynn heard the crowd erupt into applause once more...Soul and Maka must have been successful. A pause, while their marks were being shown...more clapping...then, for the third time, the whistle.

"And here comes Mr. Krum!" cried Bagman, and Krum slouched out, leaving Lynn and Ryan alone in the tent. She scooted closer to her weapon and closed her eyes, trying to settle the nerves that had just sprung into existence. Her partner murmured soothing words to her the whole time.

"Very daring!" Bagman was yelling, and Lynn heard the Chinese Fireball emit a horrible, roaring shriek, while the crowd drew its collective breath. "That's some nerve he's showing — and — yes, he's got the egg!"

Applause shattered the wintery air like breaking glass; Krum had finished — it would be Lynn's turn any moment. She stood up, catching Ryan's form and focusing on their soul resonance. And they waited, their wavelength like a live wire. And then she heard the whistle blow.

She walked out through the entrance of the tent, the panic rising inside of her seeming to melt away as she got more into her element. She was a meister of the DWMA, a warrior. This was what she was meant to do. She walked past the trees, catching a glimpse of everything through a gap in the enclosure fence.

There were hundreds and hundreds of faces staring down at her from stands that had either been built recently or they had been magicked into existence. And there was the Horntail, at the other end of the enclosure, crouched low over her clutch of eggs, her wings half-furled, her evil, yellow eyes upon her, a monstrous, scaly, black lizard, thrashing her spiked tail, leaving yard-long gouge marks in the hard ground. The crowd was making a great deal of noise, but whether friendly or not, Lynn didn't know or care. It was time to do what she had to do...to focus her mind, entirely and absolutely.

She raised her weapon with both hands and breathed deeply.

"Soul Crusher!" She shouted.

The reaction from the crowd was immediate as her weapon transformed. Even the dragon seemed taken aback for a moment before it charged towards her. The crowd was making even more noise, Bagman was shouting something, but Lynn's ears were not working properly anymore. Listening wasn't important.

She pulled the club back and swung it forward with more force than a young girl of her stature should have been able to. It hit the Horntail hard, knocking the beast into the walls of the enclosure. The entire arena shook, people screaming as it slammed against it.

The Horntail seemed confused for a moment, allowing Lynn to take her chance. She released Soul Crusher, her weapon reverting back to normal as she sprinted towards the eggs. She must have been ten feet away from the nest when she heard Ryan shouting at her.

A jet of fire was coming her way anti would have hit her if she had not jumped behind one of the rocks in the arena. Her heart was pounding in her ears as she heard the dragon approach. Ryan's reflection appeared in on the weapon again. "Remember, it's just a kishin. We can do this."

"You're right." She panted. "Are you ready?"

"Born ready."

She waited until the dragon was right behind her when she came jumping up, launching herself off of the rock and onto the dragon's neck. She clutched onto the spikes with one hand as it tried to throw her off. With a powerful kick she leapt from its neck to its back, right where the wings were located.

The Horntail fought even harder, knocking her around. Lynn hissed in pain when she felt one of the spikes cut across her leg, leaving a bleeding gash in it's wake. She heard Ryan shout at her in concern, but it didn't manage to register. All she could focus on was the pain and her determination to get away from the damn thing. Lynn swung hard at the joint of the wing, satisfied when she heard it break. The dragon screeched in pain and managed to throw her off, her landing just at the edge of its nest. While it was throwing itself around in agony, she snatched the egg and sprinted behind one of the rocks just as another jet of fire made its way towards her.

It was only fifty feet to the entrance, but the dragon was pissed. Tucking the egg under her arm, she gripped her club again. "Ry, you think you have one more Soul Crusher in you?"

"Not a chance in hell." He swore. "Just run, we're almost there."

She swore loudly and peeked around at the dragon. It was trying to nurse its broken wing at the moment but that window of opportunity was going to close soon. With a huge spurt of speed, she was on her feet and running towards the gate. Her leg was screaming in pain but it was all that she could do to keep going.

The dragon roared behind her and she heard the fire coming at her. Lynn pumped her legs harder and dove through the entrance. The fire was licking at her heels, but she was safe. Safe, she thought, she had done it. It was as though somebody had just turned the volume back up — for the first time, she became properly aware of the noise of the crowd, which was screaming and applauding as loudly as Nygus during the Super Bowl.

"Look at that!" Bagman was yelling. "Will you look at that! Our youngest champion is quickest to get her egg! Well, this is going to shorten the odds on Miss Potter!"

Lynn saw the dragon keepers rushing forward to subdue the Horntail and all the other DWMA students rushing towards her, all of them smiling widely. She limped over to them, Ryan transforming back to help her walk.

"That was amazing, Lynn!" Maka cried, hugging her closer. "We'll take you to the healer before they give out the final scores. Oh, I can't believe you did that! Your dad taught you better than to jump at a dragon's mouth!"

"Can I take a rain check on this lecture?" Lynn winced. "I'm a little sore."

Kid took over from Ryan, pulling her close. "The first aid tent is over here, let's go."

He helped her out of the enclosure and towards a second tent. There was a plump witch with graying hair and warm brown eyes waiting for them at the entrance, helping to pull Lynn inside.

"Dragons!" she said, in a disgusted tone. The tent was divided into cubicles; she could make out Cedric's shadow through the canvas, but he didn't seem to be badly injured; he was sitting up, at least. The witch examined Lynn's leg, talking furiously all the while. "Last year dementors, this year dragons, what are they going to bring into this school next? You're very lucky...this is quite shallow...it'll need cleaning before I heal it up, though…."

She cleaned the cut with a dab of some purple liquid that smoked and stung, but then poked Lynn's leg with her wand, and she felt it heal instantly. "Now, just sit quietly for a minute — sit! And then you can go and get your score."

Lynn didn't want to sit still, she was still full of adrenaline. It was only the presence of the others that kept her sitting quietly in the hospital bed. Moments later she heard the cloth of the tent rustle as Hermione came darting bushy haired witch hugged her tightly, her face still damp from tears.

"Lynn, you were brilliant!" Hermione said squeakily. There were fingernail marks on her face where she had been clutching it in fear. "You were amazing! You really were!"

But Lynn was looking at the boy who had followed Hermione in, one of the redhead Weasley clan. The boy was paper white, staring at Lynn as if she was a ghost. Lynn simply raised a brow at him. "And you are?"

"Ron, Ron Weasley." The boy blurted out. "I'm in Gryffindor with Hermione."

"I know that." Lynn said coldly. "But I've never even seen you speak to her before, so why are you here?"

Ron's ears turned bright pink in embarrassment. "I-I was with Hermione and I wanted to check on you with her."

"Well, I'm in one piece." She replied. "You've seen me. Now you can stop using my friend to get close to the so called 'Girl-Who-Lived'."

"Whatever, bye." Ron grumbled, storming out of the tent. She looked over at Hermione who simply shrugged in response.

"He was being very nice during the task, I didn't think he would follow me here."

"You can't be so trusting," said Ryan, shaking his head. "Lynn, c'mon, our scores are probably up."

She grabbed the golden egg and ducked out of the tent with Ryan by her side, Hermione talking a million miles a minute next to her. "You were the best, you know, no competition. Cedric Transfigured a rock on the ground and turned it into a dog, he was trying to make the dragon go for the dog instead of him. Well, it was brilliant work, and it sort of worked, because he did get the egg, but he got burned as well — the dragon changed its mind halfway through and decided it would rather have him than the Labrador; he only just got away. That Maka girl just flew around hers on that scythe and grabbed the egg before the dragon even realized what was going on. And Krum just hit it with some sort of spell right in the eye. Only thing is, it went trampling around in agony and squashed half the real eggs — they took marks off for that, he wasn't supposed to do any damage to them."

Hermione drew breath as she, Ryan, and Lynn reached the edge of the enclosure. Now that the Horntail had been taken away, Lynn could see where the five judges were sitting — right at the other end, in raised seats draped in gold.

"It's marks out of ten from each one," Hermione said, and Lynn, squinting up the field, saw the first judge, her father Sid, raised up a large dry erase board with the number seven written on it.

"Man, he has to be fair about _everything_." Ryan complained.

Lynn laughed. "He wouldn't be my dad if he wasn't like that."

Mr. Crouch came next. He shot a number six into the air. Next, Dumbledore. He put up a seven. The crowd was cheering

harder than ever. Ludo Bagman — ten.

"Ten?" said Lynn in disbelief. "But...I got hurt, I broke the dragon's wing! What's he playing at?"

And now Karkaroff raised his wand. He paused for a moment, and then a number shot out of his wand too — four. But Lynn didn't care, she wouldn't have cared if Karkaroff had given him zero; she had survived the challenge without any kind of major, lasting injury and that was all that mattered in that moment.

"Fourth place, not bad." Lynn and Ryan high five each other, causing Hermione to shake her head in exasperation.

"You're in last place, how can you be happy?" She asked them.

"Oh, dear Hermione." Ryan laughed. "Do you know how they spell last? A-L-I-V-E. C'mon Lynn, Soul told me that they want us to have a word back in the champion's tent."

Lynn hugged Hermione tightly again. "We'll talk later, okay?"

She heard the girl agree before she and Ryan went running over to the champion's tent like children. She didn't care how immature they were acting in that moment. They were alive and well, they had every reason to act a fool. They reentered the tent, which somehow looked quite different now: friendly and welcoming. She thought back to how she'd felt while dodging the Horntail, and compared it to the long wait before she'd walked out to face it….

There was no comparison; the wait had been immeasurably worse.

Soul and Maka were already waiting, looking extremely happy. Right after Lynn and Ryan came Cedric and Krum, neither one of them speaking to the other. One side of Cedric's face was covered in a thick orange paste, which was presumably mending his burn.

"Well done, all of you!" said Ludo Bagman, bouncing into the tent and looking as pleased as though he personally had just got past a dragon. "Now, just a quick few words. You've got a nice long break before the second task, which will take place at half past nine on the morning of February the twenty-fourth — but we're giving you something to think about in the meantime! If you look down at those golden eggs you're all holding, you will see that they open...see the hinges there? You need to solve the clue inside the egg — because it will tell you what the second task is, and enable you to prepare for it! All clear? Sure? Well, off you go, then!"

Lynn left the tent and joined up with all of the other DWMA students and they started to walk back around the edge of the forest, talking loudly; Lynn wanted to hear all about what Soul and Maka had done, and how Kid and the Thompson twin's mission had gone. She and Kid were holding each others hands tightly, just glad to actually be around each other and get to touch like a normal couple.

Then, as they rounded the clump of trees behind which Lynn had first heard the dragons roar, a witch leapt out from behind them. It was Rita Skeeter. She was wearing acid-green robes today; the Quick-Quotes Quill in her hand blended perfectly against them.

"Congratulations, Lynn!" she said, beaming at her. "I wonder if you could give me a quick word? How you felt facing that dragon? How you feel now, about the fairness of the scoring?"

"Yeah, you can have a word," said Lynn savagely. "Good-bye."

And she set off back to the castle with her friends, determined to celebrate. It felt really good to be alive.

* * *

 **I am SOOOOO sorry that it's taken this long to get this chapter out. Life has been hectic and I honestly just haven't found the time to write. Update will probably be a little less frequent. I'm going to shoot for every other Sunday instead of every single Sunday just to take some of the pressure off.**

 **Thank you all for reading and please review if you liked it!**


	5. Announcement

I come to all of you bearing some bad news. A couple nights ago I fell down the stairs and as a result I have a broken wrist. I can't type without being in pain and I'm having to do this one handed. I'll be in my cast for at least six weeks and I'll try to get something out, but it might take a while.

Thank you all for being so understanding and supporting this story


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